Chapter 203: Idiot "What did you say?" The Minister of Justice...
"What did you say?" The Minister of Justice spat a mouthful of tea on the face of his subordinate in front of him, shocked.
The visitor didn't even bother to wipe his face before repeating, "A prisoner has confessed that there's a hidden story behind the assassination in the 38th year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, and it's suspected to be related to... to... to the eldest and eighth princes."
The Minister of Justice was quite old, and upon hearing this, he disregarded his dignity and held his chest in disbelief, saying, "Say it again?"
The man had mustered up a lot of courage to say it twice, but now he really couldn't open his mouth.
The Minister of Justice sat for a quarter of an hour before he stood up shakily and said, "Let's go to the interrogation room."
His appearance did not change the outcome. The prisoner even knew his identity and blurted out everything he knew, which made him feel weak in the knees.
The Minister of Justice walked out of the interrogation room in a dazed state, silenced the people who knew the truth, and then tremblingly entered the palace to ask for an audience with Kangxi.
It was not until he heard Kangxi's voice calling that the soul of the Minister of Justice, which had flown into the sky, fell back into his body and felt the reality.
But then, he would rather not have this sense of reality.
The emperor summoned the imprisoned eldest prince!
This news spread throughout the capital like the wind in a short time. People had all kinds of guesses. Some even believed that this was a sign that the emperor was going to release the eldest prince and make him the crown prince.
Yinsi received the news first, and he might even have been the first person to think that Kangxi wanted to make the eldest prince the crown prince.
"Brother, what did you do?" Yinsi's question drifted in the wind, and no one answered.
Before all kinds of speculations could ferment, Yinsi welcomed the angel in the palace.
"The Emperor summoned me?" Yinsi didn't expect that there would be something about him today. Did his elder brother mention him in front of the Emperor?
The eunuch who delivered the order was not one Yinsi knew well. He urged with a stern face, "Yes, please, Eighth Prince, let me into the palace immediately."
Yinsi frowned slightly: "Please wait a moment, eunuch, I'm going to change my clothes." He wanted to delay time to find out some news.
The eunuch who announced the decree said rudely, "No need for that. The Emperor has said that the Eighth Prince must come to the palace to see him immediately."
So urgent? Yinsi's mind was even more troubled, and he always had a bad feeling. He did not try to delay any longer. He stood up and said, "Please come in, eunuch."
On the way to the attack, Yinsi also tried to get information from the angel, but no matter what he said, the angel remained silent and just said he didn't know.
Yinsi was even more nervous. When he arrived at the imperial study, he took a deep breath before stepping in and said, "Your son pays his respects to the Emperor, Father. May the Emperor be blessed."
silence.
There was complete silence in the imperial study, even the sound of breathing was barely audible.
It seemed as if he was the only one here.
Yinsi knelt on the ground, feeling as if huge mountains were pressing down on his back, and sweat was already visible on his forehead.
It seemed like a century had passed before Yinsi heard a familiar voice coming from above.
"Thirty-eight years, do you have anything to tell me?" Kangxi's voice was like the glaciers in the Arctic, containing endless coldness.
Yinsi's mind raced. Did someone accuse him? Thirty-eight years, what happened in thirty-eight years? Yes, the Southern Tour, the assassination, what else? Concubine Min died, and his third brother was demoted, but none of this had anything to do with him. And... and... that's right! In the Shuntian County Examination cheating case, the second brother suffered the most damage, and the eldest brother contributed the most. The emperor summoned the eldest brother to the palace first, and then summoned himself. So, they were the ones who were behind the cheating and were discovered, and the emperor is here to hold them accountable?
That shouldn't be the case. Not to mention how long ago this happened, even though they did tamper with the information, it was my second brother and his men who committed the fraud first. Moreover, the Emperor hates my second brother so much now, how could he suddenly bring up these old things?
Yinsi had a lot on his mind, but outwardly he was just stunned for a moment, then kowtowed and said, "Your Highness, I am terrified. Please enlighten me, Father."
"Oh," Kangxi asked again, "you really don't know what to say to me?"
Yinsi's heart trembled, and after a while, he couldn't find any problem. He could only bite the bullet and say, "I really don't know what mistake I made."
As soon as the words fell.
"Bang!"
An inkstone flew straight towards him and hit Yinsi's shoulder, making a dull sound.
Yinsi nearly fell to the ground. After coming to his senses, he ignored the pain in his shoulder and said in panic, "Father, please calm down! I have done something wrong. You can punish me. Don't let your anger ruin your health."
Until this moment, he has not forgotten his filial character.
"Yinsi!" Kangxi's voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth. "You were born to a lowly woman from the Xinzheku. I didn't care about your low status and raised you with care. But I didn't expect that you have been arrogant and treacherous since childhood, and have been harboring great ambitions..."
A torrential downpour of scolding came at him, leaving Yinsi dizzy. He raised his head blankly and looked at Kangxi, whose face was distorted.
Emperor, is this you? Why does your son feel so strange?
Kangxi cursed for a long time before he stopped. It was not because the anger in his heart had subsided, but because his body could not keep up. Although he had recovered a little from his illness in the past few months, his health was not as good as before. At this moment, he was a little out of breath.
Yinsi still raised his head, but everything in his sight became blurry. He heard his own voice floating in his ears: "Father, what mistake did my son make?"
This question further inflamed Kangxi's anger: "You beast, you still dare to ask!" Then he threw the things on the imperial table at Yinsi, "Look for yourself, have I wronged you?"
Yinsi crawled on his knees and picked up the memorials scattered on the ground. He wiped his eyes several times before he could see every word on the paper clearly.
He knew all the words above, but why did they sound so ridiculous when put together?
What he said was that he colluded with the White Lotus Sect, provided them with convenience, let them on board, created chaos, and carried out assassinations.
How could he, the dignified prince of the Qing Dynasty, collude with those shady rats? Would anyone really believe such nonsense?
"Your Majesty, I...I am innocent!" Yinsi wailed with tears in his eyes.
Kangxi was completely unconvinced: "Unjust? There are witnesses and evidence, and you say you are wronged?"
Yinsi knelt and took two steps forward. "Father, Father, this is all fake, forged. If there were real evidence, why didn't anyone report their son back then? Even if there wasn't a chance then, hasn't there been a chance in the past twenty years? Why did they have to wait until today?"
"Why didn't I report you back then?" Kangxi said with a cold smile, "Look at this again."
Another memorial was thrown down on his head. After reading it, Yinsi felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave.
Pang Zhi was a military scholar. In his early years, he was fortunate to serve under Yinzhi when he was leading the army. Because of his bravery, he won Yinzhi's favor and was taken by Yinzhi to be trained for a few years. After that, he was arranged to be a captain in the Beijing camp. After Yinzhi's failure, he escaped because of his low official position. However, he admired martial arts and looked down on Yinsi's weakness. He did not turn to Yinsi like most of Yinzhi's party. Of course, Yinsi did not take him, a small soldier, seriously.
Later, he felt that he had no future in the capital, so he was transferred to Henan Wei, far away from the capital.
If it had ended there, the two would probably have had no intersection for the rest of their lives. However, Yinsi had planted someone among the officials who went to Henan to provide disaster relief. This person had been severely offended by Pang Zhi when he was with Yinzhi.
Things are different now than they were in the past. When enemies meet, they are particularly jealous of each other. Pang Zhi is not a man who works for the people. He brought personal grudges into official business. The imperial envoys had colluded with local officials for corruption and were counting on the local garrisons to suppress them. Pang Zhi did not put in any effort, which led to the scale of the riots in just half a month, alarming the court.
Although Pang Zhi was not involved in the corruption incident, his crime of dereliction of duty was set in stone, and he was also arrested by Zhao Shenqiao. On the way to Beijing, he lived with this group of people day and night. Pang Zhi saw that his enemy was relying on someone behind him to be calm and composed, so how could he swallow this? So as soon as he entered the Ministry of Justice prison, he chose a time when there were many people around to sell out his backer.
However, he still missed his old master Yinzhi, so when he sold him, he removed all of Yinzhi and only buried Yinsi.
Of course, his confession was full of mistakes and omissions. Although the Ministry of Justice did not dare to investigate due to confidentiality and only reported everything as it was, Kangxi was no pushover. He saw the loopholes at a glance and found out Yinzhen's involvement, so he summoned Yinzhen first.
Yinzhi was responsible and took responsibility for everything, saying that it was all his doing and Yinsi was completely unaware of it. He was actually telling the truth. Yinsi was very young at the time, and although he valued his younger brother, he would not let him participate in such a secret matter.
But Kangxi didn't believe it. He had been feeling bad for Yinsi for more than a day or two. He had scolded Yinsi for being treacherous a few years ago. But over the years, Yinsi not only did not calm down, but became more and more powerful. Almost half of the ministers in the court had spoken well of him. How could Kangxi, who was becoming increasingly old and frail, not be wary?
Once the emperor's suspicion is planted, it only takes a little bit of triggering to grow into a towering tree in an instant.
What's more, Kangxi has more than one Pang Zhi under his control.
"Do you think there is only one him?" Kangxi raised his hand and threw down a few more leaflets.
Yinsi picked them up and looked at them one by one. Some of the names on them he knew, some he didn't, but without exception, they all had more or less connection with the assassination case that year, and these people all pointed out in unison that he had left clues in the incident.
Yinsi's face was numb, and he didn't know how to defend himself. In the end, he could only utter four words: "...I am innocent."
…
The Eighth Prince's Mansion was surrounded by the Imperial Guards!
He Zhuo immediately approached Yinzhen and Yinzhen: "Ninth Master, Fourteenth Master, what's going on? Why did the Emperor suddenly surround Eighth Master's residence? What happened?"
Yinzhen said solemnly, "I haven't received any news. Don't worry, calm everyone down first. I will go to the palace with my fourteenth brother."
Yinzhen looked serious and warned, "Don't panic. At a time like this, less trouble is worse than more. Wait until my ninth brother and I come back and we'll discuss everything."
When Yin'er and Yinzhen arrived at the palace, they found that all their brothers had come, waiting to be summoned by the emperor.
Seeing them, all the brothers came forward. Yinzhi, the eldest brother, asked sternly, "What foolish thing did Eighth Brother do to make the Emperor so angry? The Imperial Physician hasn't come out yet!"
Yinzhen and Yinzhen exchanged a glance, and Yinzhen lowered his head and said, "Third brother, my fourteenth brother and I don't know either."
Yinzhen's face looked very unhappy: "You really don't know?"
Yinzhen said indignantly, "Fourth brother, what do you mean? You don't know anything, but you're so eager to put the blame on us?"
"You..." Yinzhen glared.
Yinqi quickly came out to smooth things over: "Alright, alright, no matter what, let's wait until the Emperor is better before we talk about it."
Yinzhen flicked his sleeves and turned to leave. Yin'e and Yinxiang looked at each other, thought for a while, and followed him.
"Fourth brother, don't bother with the Fourteenth Brother. He always has a bad temper." Yin'e comforted him dryly.
Yinzhen had a sullen face and said nothing. Yinxiang tugged at Yin'e's sleeve, signaling him to stop talking.
Prince Yigan just stood outside the palace waiting silently.
Suddenly, Liang Jiugong came out of the hall. Everyone immediately went to meet him and asked in a flurry of voices:
"Eunuch Liang, how is the Emperor?"
"What did the imperial physician say?"
"Would you like to summon us to an audience?"
Liang Jiugong clasped his hands together and said, "In reply to my brother, the emperor is in good condition. The imperial physician is giving him acupuncture. Please wait a moment, my brothers. I have been ordered to summon several adults to the palace." After saying that, he hurried away.
The princes looked at each other for a while, then looked away, but the same thought came to their minds at the same time.
Has Lao Ba/Myna really gotten into big trouble?
The old men came into the palace one after another, exhausted, and after paying their respects to Yinzhi and the others, they stood on the other side clearly.
This time, Liang Jiugong came out and said, "The Emperor has summoned you all to come in for an audience."
"Your Majesty, we pay our respects to you. Long live the Emperor." Everyone knelt down in unison.
Kangxi did not call him, but only said: "Liang Jiugong, announce the decree."
Everyone's heart skipped a beat. Without saying anything, he just announced the decree...
"The Emperor of Tianchengyun decrees: Eighth Prince Yinsi, son of a lowly woman from the Xinzheku…colluded with rebels and attempted to assassinate the emperor. He is worse than an animal. He is stripped of his title, demoted to a commoner, and exiled to guard the Xiaoling Mausoleum. He shall not be released for life. This is my decree!"
Everyone who heard the imperial edict suspected that they were hallucinating.
Who? The eldest prince, Yinzhen, and the eighth prince, Yinsi. What? They colluded with rebels and plotted to assassinate the emperor.
Isn’t this really a story secretly written by a traitor?
"Your Majesty! This is impossible! Someone must have framed my brother! My brother has always been filial, how could he have colluded with the rebels and assassinated the emperor? Your Majesty, please investigate! My brother is innocent!"
The sound of Yinzhen's kowtow woke everyone up.
Before anyone could agree with him, Kangxi's chilling voice rang out: "You mean I'm slandering him?"
How could Yinzhen dare to respond to this? He could only kowtow frantically and beg for mercy: "I beg Your Majesty, please look into this, I beg Your Majesty, please look into this, my brother is innocent, my brother is innocent!"
Yinzhen also realized what was happening and began to kowtow, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please forgive me. Since the end of last year, because of Your Majesty's illness, my eighth brother has been worried every day and unable to sleep. My eighth sister-in-law and I kneel every day to copy five scrolls of scriptures and offer them to the Buddha, just to pray for Your Majesty's health. With such filial piety, how could I do such a thing worse than that of an animal? Please, Your Majesty, please understand!"
Yinzhen was calmer than the others. Although he had always disliked Yinsi, this matter was too absurd and unbelievable, so he said, "Your Majesty, I am not pleading for the Eighth Prince. It is just that assassination is a serious matter. Should we order the Three Courts to conduct a joint trial?"
Xu Yuanmeng also reacted, not caring about exposing himself, and hurriedly said, "Yes, Your Majesty, this matter is of great importance and requires a thorough investigation. Excuse me, I wonder when Your Majesty was assassinated?"
That's right! Everyone just realized it now. They were all stunned. Everything had been peaceful recently. When was the emperor assassinated? Why was there no news at all?
"Your Majesty, where are the assassins? I will go and interrogate them myself to find out why they framed my dear!" Yinzhen raised his dizzy head and said angrily.
Yinqi glanced at his anxious brother, sighed secretly, and said, "Father, why don't you order the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, and the Censorate to jointly investigate this case?"
Left Censor-in-Chief Xu Yuanmeng quickly declared: "I will investigate this case thoroughly."
The Dali Temple's Minister looked curiously at the Minister of Justice, who had maintained the same posture. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured. The Dali Temple will do its utmost to ensure that the thieves have nowhere to hide."
Kangxi looked around at the various people in the hall, sneered, and said, "Zhang Shu, you speak."
The motionless Minister of Justice trembled for a moment, then slowly raised his head and, under everyone's gaze, recounted the whole story.
After he finished speaking, the hall fell into deathly silence. No one had expected that this matter could be traced back to almost twenty years ago.
Twenty years ago, many ministers in this palace were still in the fourth or fifth rank and knew nothing.
As for the princes, although many of them experienced the assassination personally, most of them were only in their teens or twenties at that time, and had not even performed many tasks. All they knew were the things that were finally made public, so they had no idea what the tricks were.
Yinzhen was in much the same boat. He remembered that he was puzzled at the time. The boats and entourage of the emperor's travels had to be checked repeatedly, so how could someone get away with it unnoticed? Later, the official explanation was that the White Lotus Sect had been operating in the local area for a long time and had cultivated a group of people with clean identities. He felt that this explanation was correct and secretly sighed that the White Lotus Sect was worthy of being a traitor that lasted for two dynasties. It was indeed very patient.
Who would have thought that today, a different inside story would be uncovered.
Yinzhen felt his throat dry, and he couldn't help but ask, "Father, is this true?"
"Do you think I made it up?" Kangxi stared at him coldly.
Yinzhen swallowed hard, collected himself, and said, "That's not what I meant. I just think it doesn't make sense. As princes of the Aisin-Gioro family, why would my eldest brother and eighth brother collude with the rebels? To put it bluntly, even if we sold the rebel Shuan together, he wouldn't be worth more than a few taels of silver."
Kangxi's eyes were subtle: "I remember that your ship capsized and you and your wife were abducted by bandits?"
Yinzhen lowered his eyes: "Yes." It was that time that Honghui almost didn't come into this world.
"Then why are you talking to these two beasts?" There was no warmth in Kangxi's voice. The reason why there was no punishment for Yinzhi in the imperial edict just read out was not because he was a kind father, but because Yinzhi had been imprisoned for many years and there was no punishment left, and he was unwilling to bear the name of killing his son.
Yinzhen sighed, raised his head and said seriously, "I'm not speaking for anyone, but this matter is very suspicious. I don't want your Majesty to be deceived and regret it later."
Everyone in the hall gasped, all thinking at the same time, "Prince Yong is so bold! What a hero!"
Some people looked at Yinzhen with admiration, while others stood up to support Yinzhen.
The first was Zhao Shenqiao: "Prince Yong is absolutely right. This matter is full of doubts, and it has been twenty years since then. I hope the emperor will order the three courts to re-examine it."
The other adults also echoed.
"I beg Your Majesty to calm down and reexamine this case."
"The eldest and eighth princes have no reason to do this."
"Perhaps the White Lotus Sect is still ruthless and intends to stir up unrest in the court."
Kangxi narrowed his eyes, stared at everyone for a long time, and then said, "Okay, since you want an explanation, I will give it to you."
"Liang Jiugong, show them the things."
Liang Jiugong bent over and distributed the things, and everyone took turns to look at everything.
"Have you finished reading it? Then tell me, why did these two beasts do this?" He asked slowly and methodically.
Everyone in the hall wanted to hold their breath.
"Because..." Kangxi dragged out his words, as if he was tired of talking for so long, "...they coveted the throne of the Crown Prince. Back then, Yinreng was supposed to be on the same ship with you, but I called him away before he boarded. That's why he wasn't on that ship."
"Fourth brother, do you know why you were abducted?" Kangxi's voice could be described as kind at this time.
Yinzhen guessed the answer in his heart.
"You are suffering on behalf of Yinreng."
Sure enough, Yinzhen thought to himself, there were so many brothers on the boat at that time, why did the assassin kidnap only them? Now think about it, the clothes he wore that day were somewhat similar to his second brother's.
Kangxi sneered, "These two beasts may not have intended to assassinate me, but knowing that the rebels were planning to assassinate me, not only did they not immediately arrest them, but they secretly provided convenience for them. Have they ever considered that under the volley of arrows, I, the emperor and father, would be injured?"
"Even if I am fine, they are right to deal with Yinreng. Yinreng is their brother. How can they attack their own brother? And say they are filial and kind? I think they are bastards worse than beasts!"
No one in the palace dared to speak out. They could understand using the rebels to deal with the deposed prince, but it was indeed as the emperor said, exposing the monarch and father to danger and chaos in order to deal with the deposed prince was indeed unfilial.
As for the deposed crown prince and brothers, well, since ancient times, how many brothers have killed each other for that position? Everyone understands.
It can be said that Kangxi went to such lengths that he even exposed the fact that his sons were killing each other for everyone to see. There was no room for maneuver in the matter between Yinzhen and Yinsi.
Xu Yuanmeng was so discouraged that he was ready to give up.
But unexpectedly, at this time, someone still stood up.
"Father Emperor, perhaps my eldest brother was indeed at fault in this matter, but there's no way that Eighth Brother could have been the one to blame!" Yin Zhen, blood dripping from his forehead, said firmly, "Eighth Brother was only eighteen years old at the time. How could my eldest brother have let him know such a secret? There's absolutely no way! Someone must have framed him!"
"Father Emperor, you must not be deceived by these thieves! If you condemn my dear brother so easily, it will only bring sorrow to his family and joy to his enemies!"
Yinzhen suddenly turned around and stared at his fellow brother.
idiot!
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