The Ming Dynasty's Spokesperson

Emperor Wanli, who lives in the palace, has been a little annoyed recently. In the past two months, officials and ministers have begun to communicate with each other one after another, urging him to appoint the emperor's eldest son as the East Palace as soon as possible.

Three years ago, the favored Concubine Zheng gave birth to the emperor's third son. The ministers saw Emperor Wanli's preference for the emperor's third son, so they went to the emperor to persuade the emperor to establish a legitimate eldest son, and asked the emperor's eldest son who was born three or four years earlier to be the emperor. East Palace.

At that time, Emperor Wanli could not let go of his preference for the third son of the emperor, so he used the excuse that the eldest son of the emperor was still young and did not know whether he was in good health. He would wait until three years later.

Then Emperor Wanli spent two or three years in relative peace, and slowly began to be lazy in his administration, like a frog boiled in warm water.

Ceremonies such as court meetings, lectures, and interviews began to be abandoned. Even the cabinet bachelors often did not see the emperor once for several months.

Now that the three-year contract period has expired, as expected, the ministers began to bring up old matters again, raising national issues again, which upset Emperor Wanli.

But the problem is that Emperor Wanli still looks down on his eldest son, and still wants his favorite third son to inherit his empire.

Faced with the attitude of the ministers, Emperor Wanli thought of finding something to distract the ministers' attention, or to recruit someone to help him bear the firepower.

As a fully educated emperor, Emperor Wanli still knew the most basic imperial skills.

But the world is generally peaceful recently, and there are really no controversial topics.

Perhaps the biggest news last month was that Li Yuanlang, a monk from Shixing County, Guangdong, organized hundreds of White Lotus followers to rebel in early April, and was suppressed and beheaded on April 9th.

Then when Lin Zhuangyuan went out to enthrone the northern captives, he personally killed a very powerful chief.

In fact, in the eyes of Emperor Wanli, killing a barbarian chief was not a big deal at all. It was just a formality and a few words of reprimand, and at the worst, he would be fined another year's salary.

But I couldn't stand it, and this incident became popular inexplicably, and the popularity remained high.

In recent times, the number of memorials discussing Lin Zhuangyuan's reckless killing of captive chiefs and provocations on the border is second only to the number of memorials asking for the establishment of the East Palace.

Therefore, Lin Zhuangyuan, who was suddenly promoted as a popular figure, finally attracted the special attention of Emperor Wanli.

After careful calculation, Emperor Wanli summoned Zhang Jing, the admiral of Dongchang, and asked, "Do you have any more information about Lin Tailai's killing of the Beilu chief?"

Zhang Jing replied: "I'm still looking into this."

Emperor Wanli immediately understood that the factory guard did not know any more information and cursed: "Trash! What use does your east factory have?"

Zhang Jing was very aggrieved, but he did not dare to contradict and defend.

The scope of activities of the factory guards was mainly in the capital, and their main tasks were to monitor the imperial court and the capital camp, and manage the imperial edicts and prisons.

Outside the capital, the presence of factory guards is still very weak, let alone the desert outside the border walls.

When Lu Bing was in charge of Jinyiwei, he used to recruit people and develop forces in the surrounding provinces, but who after Lu Bing has that ability?

When pondering the emperor's thoughts, Zhang Jing couldn't help but murmur in his heart. When the emperor mentioned Lin Tailai this time, could he want to "pardon" Lin Tailai again?

Is it okay to kill a foreign chief who has been canonized by the Ming Dynasty? Mr. Zhang couldn’t help but get angrier as he thought about it!

Then I heard Emperor Wanli say impatiently: "I have issued an edict a few days ago and sent someone to bring Lin Tailai back to the capital for interrogation.

Zhang Jing, you have been responsible for supervising the Third Law Division for the past two days to finalize all preparations before the interrogation as soon as possible!

When Lin Tai comes to Beijing, he will be tried directly by the three judicial divisions. Convict him as soon as possible and don't delay! "

The surprise came so suddenly! Zhang Jing almost didn't react. Was God opening his eyes? The emperor actually hurriedly urged Lin Tailai to be convicted?

Apparently just last month, the emperor ignored Lin Tailai's attempt to stage a mutiny and detain the governor!

What is the unpredictable power of God? This is it! If you don’t take the opportunity to slander us at this time, you will be serving as the factory owner in vain!

After Zhang Jing came back to his senses, he immediately played again: "Lin Tailai secretly sneaked back to the capital before and beat Xing Shangzhi, the preface class of Honglu Temple, on the street. He later died from his injuries!"

Emperor Wanli asked: "What does Xing Shangzhi have to do with you?"

Zhang Jing answered honestly: "I am the housekeeper of my foreign residence."

Emperor Wanli waved his hand impatiently: "Then the cases will be handled together and interrogated together!"

First, convict Lin Tailai of a serious crime, and then grant extra mercy and pardon by the emperor!

In that case, wouldn't star Lin Tailai be easily manipulated? This is called the emperor's mind!

Zhang Jing, however, was still feeling happy in his heart. He was blinded by the good news that his enemy Lin Tailai was liquidated, and he hurriedly left the palace to do things.

As we all know, the three judicial departments of the imperial court refer to the Ministry of Punishment, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Dali Temple. The joint trial of the three judicial departments is theoretically the highest level of judicial trial.

As for court trials attended by courtiers, that has nothing to do with justice anymore. It is a matter in the political and humanistic fields.

Because of the Five Elements and Feng Shui theories, the Sanfa Department, which is responsible for punishment, is not located in the southeast corner of the imperial city like other government offices. Instead, it is located independently on the west side of the capital and is close to each other.

This was very convenient for Zhang Jing and Zhang Changgong to do their work. When he arrived at the Ministry of Punishment, he met Lu Guangzu, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, and called Wu Shilai, the censor of Zuodu of the next-door Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Sun Qin, the minister of Dali Temple.

Then Zhang Jing directly announced to the three of them: "We are here to urge you to handle the Three Laws Division and finalize the trial regulations before Lin Tai comes to Beijing."

Lu Guangzu, Wu Shilai, and Sun Qin were not surprised by this, because the factory guards' monitoring of various government offices was actually on the surface.

For example, when the trial of an important case in the Third Law Division is being heard, there will definitely be people from the factory guard observing it.

In the trial of a sensitive person like Lin Tailai, it is not surprising at all that Admiral Dongchang intervened on behalf of the emperor.

The three people immediately began to discuss. Wu Shilai, the censor of Zuodu, said to Lu Guangzu, the Minister of Punishment: "This is a private crime and should be interrogated in the Ministry of Punishment, with Lu Da Si Kou in charge of the trial."

Lu Guangzu immediately disagreed and said: "No, no, this is clearly a public crime. It should be tried in the Metropolitan Procuratorate. It is appropriate for Mr. Wu to be the presiding judge."

Listening to the censor of Zuodu and the minister of punishment, Zhang Changgong, who was not very knowledgeable, was expressionless and calm, but he was a little confused in his heart.

Public crime? Private crime? What's this? What is the connection with the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Criminal Justice?

Fortunately, he brought over the more professional Dongchang Qianshu, who whispered in his ear and explained:

“For officials, public crimes refer to crimes directly related to their duties and responsibilities, such as corruption and perversion of the law; while private crimes refer to crimes involving private conduct such as murder, arson, and theft of property.

According to the officialdom system, public crimes are under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and private crimes are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Punishment.

Therefore, Wu Zongxian and Lu Sikou argued about whether it was a public crime or a private crime, with the purpose of shifting the presiding power to the other side. "

Zhang Changgong suddenly understood, but in the professional field, he couldn't get a word in, so he could only continue to listen to the beeping of these officials.

Wu Zongxian said: "Lin Tailai's killing of the captive chieftain relied solely on force and had nothing to do with his authority. Therefore, if we say this is a private crime, your Ministry of Punishment will take care of it!"

Lu Sikou said: "Lin Tailai was sent as an imperial envoy outside the Great Wall, and in the process of carrying out the canonization and entertaining official duties, he killed the captive chief. Of course it is a public crime, and you should all take him into custody."

Wu Zongxian said: "The captive chieftain who was killed was not Lin Tailai's canonized target. It had nothing to do with Lin Tailai's official duties. It was considered a private fight. Therefore, in the final analysis, it was a private crime. It is most appropriate to send it to your punishment department."

Lu Sikou said: "But Lin Tailai relied on his official status. If he didn't have his official status, how could he dare to take action and escape unscathed? It's unreasonable for you to reject the case of the procuratorate."

Both sides have their own reasons, and they all sound reasonable. They argued until the end of the Golden Crow, but no result was reached.

Mr. Zhang had no choice but to leave first.

The next day, Zhang Changgong once again summoned the heads of the three judicial departments, and then continued to listen to the serious arguments of the Ministry of Punishment and the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Seeing another day pass, Zhang Changgong suspected that he had encountered the legendary "yamen style."

Shivering! Even the matters handled by Dongchang Changgong are like this. Can the Ming Dynasty still get better?

Early the next morning, Emperor Wanli summoned Zhang Jing and asked, "Are the Three Fa Divisions ready?"

Mr. Zhang was speechless and lowered his head in shame.

So far, no result has been reached even through consultation with the presiding judge.

"What a waste!" Emperor Wanli couldn't help but cursed again, and then issued an order: "Then let the Jinyiwei Official School pick him up and take him directly to Beizhen Fusi for trial!"

I originally wanted to respect the judicial procedures of your civil servants, so as not to be nagging you again, but all I got was delay and confusion!

Then he, the emperor, would stop pretending and directly use Jin Yiwei to guard Fusi in the north!

Zhang Changgong almost wanted to slap his thigh and shouted, "Your Majesty, wouldn't it be over if you had issued an order like this?"

It shouldn’t have been so troublesome in the first place, just let the Jinyi guards review it!

However, Zhang Changgong, who had avenged his great revenge, was not highly educated and was not sensitive to words. He did not pay attention to the fact that the emperor said that he would be picked up and brought to Fusi, Beizhen, instead of sent to prison.

There is no essential difference. Anyway, they are arresting people for interrogation. It is nothing more than the emperor wanting to give Jiuyuan Xiangrui some dignity.

Compared with those errands that require a lot of attention, Mr. Zhang prefers to do this kind of errands that only require hard work and speed!

Outside the south gate of Juyongguan, Lin Tailai's friends, who had received the notice, drove hundreds of miles from the capital and stood here to welcome Lin Tailai back from Xuanfu.

A prison car slowly drove out from behind the closed door, and a majestic figure that everyone was very familiar with sat in the car's cage.

Zhou Yingqiu rushed forward like lightning, grabbed the cage and howled: "Brother Lin! How could this be like this?"

"Shut up!" Lin Tailai in the cage couldn't bear it anymore and yelled!

Zhou Yingqiu, who was yelled into a show, said: "?"

Did he use too much force again and steal the limelight? Or did you steal Brother Lin's lines?

Lin Tailai reminded: "Some words should not be spoken randomly!"

Zhou Yingqiu suddenly realized that Brother Lin must be afraid of arousing the emperor's suspicion.

The words Tianri so-and-so may have the meaning of mocking the emperor, but it is indeed inappropriate.

But only Lin Tailai, who was trying to fish, understood in his heart, how could he complain about himself at this time?

Calling out injustice can easily arouse others' vigilance, and they will start to wonder if there is really something going on inside. How can we still fish in that case?

There are two clear streams at the head of the Sanfa Department. If we don't catch a big fish, wouldn't it be in vain?

At this time, Lin Zhuangyuan didn't know that Emperor Wanli had taken the bait.

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