Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Regent of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1425. A little shock.

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    After Zhu Hejian and all the guests returned to the main hall of Zhanyuan one after another, they still treated Song Chengren with great courtesy and personally arranged for Song Chengren to sit at the head of the guest seats.  After all the guests were seated, Zhu Hejian was not in a hurry to continue to make things difficult for Song Chengren. Instead, he took the lead in caring about Zhou Shangjing's physical condition.  Zhu Hejian first turned his head and glared at several Huangzhuang eunuchs, signaling them not to speak first, then turned to look at Song Chengren and asked with concern: "Senior Song and junior also sent invitations to Zhou Shoufu at the same time.  I invited him to come to Zhanyuan for a banquet tonight, but now I don¡¯t see Zhou Shoufu coming, but his physical condition is still not good?¡± Whether Zhou Shangjing¡¯s physical condition is good or bad is directly related to Nanzhi.  The future trend of the slave situation is also one of the things that all forces in Nanjing are paying most attention to recently. Therefore, after hearing Zhu Hejian's inquiry, everyone present stared closely at Song Chengren, waiting for Song Chengren's answer.  Under the attention of everyone, Song Chengren replied expressionlessly: "Zhou Shoufu's physical condition is pretty good. Although he was slightly unwell a few days ago, he has gradually recovered under the rejuvenation of the miracle doctor Zhang Dechengzhang, and he is now fine."  The reason why I didn¡¯t come to Zhanyuan for the banquet late was not because of my health, but because after Zhao Gechen was ordered to inspect Liaodong, several major events happened one after another in Liaodong. The center of the capital has also been undergoing changes and instability recently Zhou Shoufu is the leader.  Although the leader of the hundred officials in the court is in Nanjing, he still needs to pay attention to these important court affairs, so he will stay in the East Garden tonight and want to write a memorial to Your Majesty to explain in detail his views on the situation in Liaodong and the capital.  I don't have time to come to Zhanyuan for the banquet. I hope His Highness the Seventh Prince will forgive me." "Obviously, Song Chengren is still playing the trick of "false and real", and on the surface he is firmly denying Zhou Shangjing.  There was something wrong with his physical condition, but when he explained the specific reason why Zhou Shangjing could not attend the banquet, the reason was extremely far-fetched and completely unconvincing.  If Zhou Shangjing wanted to write a memorial to explain his thoughts to Emperor Deqing, why couldn't he write it during the day?  Can't write tomorrow?  Why choose the time when the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian is hosting a banquet?  So, Song Chengren is obviously lying!  Zhou Shangjing must have been unable to get to Zhanyuan for the banquet due to other reasons!  And the rumors that Zhou Shangjing is terminally ill and will die soon are probably the truth!  ¡° In this way, after hearing Song Chengren¡¯s explanation, many people became more and more convinced of the relevant rumors.  Zhu Hejian was suspicious by nature and would not be fooled easily at first, but because of the advance circumstantial evidence from the Crown Prince and Grand Master Wang Baoren, he was misled in the end. After hearing this, he immediately felt at ease.  As long as the rumors that Zhou Shangjing is terminally ill are true, it means that Jiangnan Jinshen Group has lost its helmsman, and there is no need to be too wary of Zhou Shangjing's clever tactics. After all, Zhou Shangjing must be low on energy at this time and cannot protect himself. He may not have the ability to control the situation, and Zhu Hejian's follow-up  You can become more bold when doing things.  Thinking of this, Zhu Hejian felt regretful on his face and sighed softly: "It is such a pity that I can't meet Zhou Shoufu and take the opportunity to ask Zhou Shoufu for advice and accept the teachings of his old man. But since Zhou Shoufu can't show up because he is concerned about the important affairs of the court,  Naturally, the junior would not dare to force me to go to the banquet." As he spoke, Zhu Hejian turned his head and glanced at the eunuchs of Huangzhuang again.  After seeing Zhu Hejian's eyes sweeping over him, the eunuchs of the Imperial Village immediately had no scruples and jumped out impatiently, criticizing Song Chengren again, and their attitudes became more and more fierce.  "Your Highness, according to our family's opinion, Zhou Shangjing and Song Chengren were accomplices of the same party, and they also participated in the excavation of the dam and the submergence of the imperial village, so they had a guilty conscience and did not dare to show up!" "Master Song, you must give us  A reasonable explanation from the inner court, why did you, a tenant of the Song family, drowned near the demolished embankment? Did you, the Song family, dig the embankment upstream of Huangzhuang while still holding the shovel tightly in your hand? "  "What more explanation is needed? It must be someone from the Song family who is up to something! He has long disliked us eunuchs who are in charge of the village. He was the one who led all the Jin gentry to make things difficult for us some time ago. He has long been on the same side as us, but it's a pity that he has never done so.  To take advantage, he has every motive to destroy the embankment and flood the imperial village, just to retaliate and warn us!" "Your Highness, the Seventh Prince, you are aware of the situation and must severely punish the Song family. They deliberately damaged the royal property, which is a heinous crime.  It¡¯s no different than treason!¡± After hearing the questions and accusations from the eunuchs of the Imperial Palace, Song Chengren remained expressionless and did not respond directly.  Song Chengren was the head of the Jin gentry in Jiangnan and was once a member of the imperial court.For high-level officials and feudal officials to argue face to face with these imperial eunuchs, it is simply a matter of lowering themselves.  So, Song Chengren just turned his head slightly and glanced at the Jin gentry not far away.  Following Song Chengren¡¯s gaze, some of the lower-status Jiangnan gentry also jumped out to confront the eunuchs of Huangzhuang.  "Jiang Dawei, have you lost your mind and gone crazy? You have not been held accountable for your previous rude words to Mr. Song, and now you are maliciously slandering Zhou Shoufu. Who gave you the courage? Who gave you the qualifications? Even if you are a member of the inner court,  This kind of thing cannot be let go! I will definitely unite with the Nanjing Inspectorate to impeach you for committing the crime of being superior and domineering!" "Why should we think that the Song family dug up the dam and drowned the emperor just because of the corpse of a tenant?  Zhuang? This is clearly a frame-up! " "Yes! The Song family owns thousands of acres of farmland, and there are thousands of tenants. If someone wants to frame them up, it is easy to kidnap a few tenants and drown them in the flood.  The Song family is a big family and it is impossible to detect the abnormality in time. It is too far-fetched to throw dirty water on the old head of the Song family based on the corpse of a tenant! " "I tell you, this matter may be serious!  From beginning to end, it was directed and acted by you, the eunuchs of Huangzhuang, and it was just a trick" Seeing the disputes and conflicts between the eunuchs of Huangzhuang and the Jiangnan Jin gentry becoming more and more intense, and the situation becoming more and more chaotic and out of control, who is it?  Unable to gain the upper hand, Nanjing's guarding eunuch Xi Cheng finally spoke slowly.  "Actually, our family doesn't believe that the head of the Song family sent people to dig up the dikes and flood the imperial village. But now there is some indirect evidence pointing to the suspicion of the head of the Song family. The eunuchs in charge of the village are also very angry, and it also involves deliberately damaging the royal palace.  Property is a serious crime, so after discovering the suspicion of the Song family, we cannot ignore it or ignore it" Having said this, Xi Cheng raised his head and stared at Song Chengren closely, and said slowly: "In this case, our family is willing to send out several teams of Jin Yiwei.  , stationed in various properties and homes of the Song family, and conducted a detailed investigation of the specific movements of all the children of the Song family in recent times. As long as the Song family has a clear conscience, it will be possible to prove the innocence of the Song family and clear the suspicion of the Song family soon.  It is also a good thing for the Song family What does the head of the Song family think? "Xi Chengnai is the eunuch of Nanjing and the eunuch of rites. He is also a top figure in the entire inner court. He has enough power to check and balance the six departments in Nanjing, which is very important.  With Xicheng¡¯s status, he was worthy enough for Song Chengren to personally deal with it.  What's more, Xicheng's proposal also had sinister intentions. Once the Jin Yiwei were allowed to enter the Song family's property and residence to search for evidence, even if there were no problems in the first place, the Jin Yiwei would definitely investigate various problems.  By that time, the Song family will be convicted of various crimes, not to mention clearing their suspicions and proving their innocence.  Therefore, Song Chengren finally responded slowly: "I am upright and not afraid of slanting shadows, and the Song family has a clear conscience, so if Xi Zhenshou wants to send Jin Yiwei to investigate the Song family, of course he can! However although I have become an official, I used to be the same.  I have two high-ranking officials in the imperial court. One is the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the other is a second-rank official who is on leave! According to the Ming Dynasty, all officials in the capital and those above the fifth rank who are outside have committed crimes.  Don't ask questions! Although I also want to prove my innocence, I don't want to let Xi Zhenshou and the Jin Yiwei directly violate the Ming Dynasty's laws. Otherwise, I will prove my innocence in the end, but I will let you bear the blame and take the blame!  , we will immediately submit a memorial to the imperial court and leave it to His Majesty to decide the matter. As long as Your Majesty allows the Jinyi Guards to search the Song family, then our Song family will definitely open the door to welcome the Jinyi Guards to search. How about this?"  Blocking Xicheng's subsequent moves.  Everyone understands that with Emperor Deqing's steady character, as long as he is not completely anxious, he will never send out the Jin Yiwei to search a noble family like the Song family.  Xicheng sneered and asked again: "Thank you Mr. Song for your concern, but you still want to protect the reputation of our inner court and Jinyiwei However, the Song family is certainly a high-ranking family. If our family does not have His Majesty's will, it will indeed be  I don¡¯t dare to offend easily, but the tenants of the Song family are not wealthy, so our family can also arrange for the Jin Yiwei to interrogate the tenants of the Song family one by one, which can also prove the innocence of the Song family. " Song Chengren still did not refuse, but he also proposed?  My own conditions: "Of course! However, the eunuchs of Huangzhuang are too hostile to my Song family, and the Jinyiwei has a close relationship with the eunuchs of Huangzhuang. I am worried that the Jinyiwei will be influenced by the eunuchs of Huangzhuang and will give in when they interrogate the tenants of the Song family.  framed, so if the tenants of the Song family are to be interrogated, the relevant rights and responsibilities should be handed over to the Nanjing government, and the Jinyi guards only need to observe and record! Also When the tenants of the Song family are being interrogated, the property of the Song family is also??If farming is delayed and harvests are affected, who should compensate for the related losses?  ¡± * In this way, as Xicheng came forward to express his position, the situation changed from a fierce argument between the eunuchs of Huangzhuang and the noble gentry to a confrontation between Xicheng and Song Chengren. Although he has received various accusations and  However, after seeing Song Chengren's unyielding performance, he defied the wave after wave of attacks by Xicheng and the eunuchs of Huangzhuang.  Everyone present who was familiar with Song Chengren's style of doing things felt strange. Even though Song Chengren always seemed easy-going and easy-going in front of Zhou Shangjing, Zhang Decheng and others, this person always had a tough attitude when actually doing things.  It can even be said to be aggressive. In short, the approach of "not giving in" and "taking advantage of others" seems to be a firm stance, but it has never been Song Chengren's style of acting. "An eye for an eye" and "Rebellion."  This tougher attitude of "defending before attacking" has always been Song Chengren's habit of doing things. And Song Chengren's various performances at this moment, compared with his usual style and habits, are simply unprecedentedly weak and bullyable. In fact,  Song Chengren's "weak performance" was because he was still waiting for Zhou Shangjing's reply at this time. Because of the variable Huo Zhengyuan, Huo Zhengyuan's follow-up plan was obviously to add fuel to the flames, further confuse the situation, and completely detonate everything in South Zhili.  Conflict, so Song Chengren was worried. He didn't know whether he should follow the established plan under such circumstances and adopt an aggressive attitude to put extreme pressure on the seventh prince Zhu Hejian. He was worried that his attitude would play into Huo Zhengyuan's hands. So.  Before Song Chengren entered Zhanyuan for the banquet, he had already sent someone to return to the East Garden quickly and informed Zhou Shangjing of his meeting with Huo Zhengyuan. He wanted Zhou Shangjing to come up with an idea as soon as possible, whether he still needed to implement the established plan and show a better performance.  A tough attitude. Before receiving Zhou Shangjing's reply, Song Chengren naturally had to exercise some restraint and was unwilling to completely intensify the situation. Zhanyuan and Dongyuan were not far apart, and Zhou Shangjing had always been very decisive, so Song Chengren did not need to exercise restraint.  Too long. According to Song Chengren's estimation, Zhou Shangjing should reply to him soon. Song Chengren's idea was absolutely correct. Just as he was restraining himself and delaying time, a Song family messenger finally arrived at Zhanyuan to ask Zhou Shangjing.  He entered the main hall of Zhanyuan and handed Song Chengren a note. Song Chengren unfolded the note and saw that there were only four words written on the note. These four words were obviously Zhou Shangjing's handwriting.  The plan remains unchanged"! After seeing these four words, Song Chengren suddenly sneered. This dinner was obviously aimed at the Hongmen Banquet of the Song family, but Song Chengren had been enduring and exercising restraint in order to take the overall situation into consideration.  And now, since Zhou Shangjing is not worried about things getting serious, Song Chengren doesn't have to be forbearing and restrained. He can finally do whatever he wants and do things according to his own habits and style!  So, Song Chengren decided to give His Highness the Seventh Prince, who held the Hongmen Banquet, a small shock to the Jin gentry.  "The emperor and the gentry rule the world together" - this sentence is never a joke!  * Thinking of this, Song Chengren ignored Xi Cheng's offensive and stood up directly to look at the Seventh Prince Zhu Hejian and said loudly: "Your Highness, as the eunuchs in the inner court said, whether it is deliberately destroying the dam to cause floods, or deliberately damaging the royal family,  Land property is a serious crime that can attract the attention of the world! Since the eunuchs in the inner court have identified my Song family as the culprit behind the scenes, in order to find out the truth and prove innocence, I am willing to lead all members of the Song family to enter the prison of Jin Yiwei and do whatever they want.  The inner court and the Jin Yiwei can interrogate them at will! " Following Song Chengren's statement, all the Jin gentry present were stunned at first, but they quickly came to their senses and understood Song Chengren's true thoughts.  So, the Jin gentry also stood up and expressed their stance.  "Deliberately destroying the dam to cause floods and deliberately damaging the royal property are crimes that are enough to punish the nine clans! And my Li family and the Song family have been in-laws for generations, and they are also among the nine clans. If anything happens to the Song family, then my Li family will not be able to escape either.  Open the relationship! So I am also willing to lead all the Li family members to enter Jinyiwei's prison and let the inner court and Jinyiwei interrogate them at will! " "My Wang family also has the same attitude! I also ask Jinyiwei to empty the cell as soon as possible.  The number is large. If the Jinyi guards cannot clear the cells in time, they may not be able to accommodate all the members of the Wang family!" "My He family is not willing to wait for this party!After it was over, I immediately summoned all the clan members and went to the Jinyiwei Prison for the meeting!  ¡± Just like that, in just a few moments, seventeen influential Jiangnan gentry families have stood up one after another, saying that they have a close relationship with the Song family. If the Song family has something to do, they have something to do, so they must follow the example of the Song family.  He took the initiative to commit himself to the Jinyiwei prison and handed it over to the inner court and the Jinyiwei for interrogation. After seeing these Jin gentry competing to express their opinions, whether it was the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, the prince's grand master Wang Baoren, or the Nanjing garrison eunuch Xi Cheng, they all had big expressions for a while.  The simultaneous imprisonment and interrogation of eighteen Jiangnan wealthy families means that the situation in Jiangnan is completely out of control! That is the public condemnation from all sides!  ! On the other side, Huo Zhengyuan, who had been watching from the sidelines, saw the confidence of Song Chengren and the gentry, and then saw the embarrassment of Zhu Hejian, Wang Baoren, Xi Cheng, and the eunuchs of the Imperial Village, and knew that he did not need to come forward to support.  So, Huo Zhengyuan just smiled and continued to watch the show with a calm expression. But at the same time, there was a trace of fear and worry in the depths of Huo Zhengyuan's eyes. This was because, as a smart man, Huo Zhengyuan had already deduced.  The general future trend of the imperial court structure - although there are still many details that are still unclear, and there are still many variables that will emerge one after another, but one thing is certain - sooner or later, "Zhao Party" will emerge.  They will also become the enemy of Jiangnan Jinshen Group. Whether it is the agricultural reform plan that Zhao Junchen is currently promoting, the ocean trade monopoly plan that Huo Zhengyuan is currently preparing, or the Sichuan Salt Development Plan that has not yet shown results, they will all be completely eliminated.  Intensifying the conflict between the "Zhao Party" and the Jiangnan Jinshen Group. Therefore, the "Zhao Party" will encounter the embarrassing dilemma Zhu Hejian is currently facing sooner or later. But how the "Zhao Party" will resolve the obstacles of the Jiangnan Jinshen Group in the future, Huo Zhengyuan still has to ask.  I haven¡¯t thought of a specific solution. Maybe Zhao Junchen doesn¡¯t have a good solution either. He¡¯s just taking it one step at a time.
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report