Early morning, Huangji Palace.
"There will be no morning court today, everyone please go back! The cabinet please follow me to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, His Majesty has an order."
All the officials sighed after hearing this.
Well, I got up so early for nothing!
When he arrived outside the palace gate, Wang Chengen looked back and found that there was one more person in the cabinet team.
"Wang Fuyin, His Majesty said there will be no morning court today, so go back to the yamen. The task of clearing the countryside is all up to the Ministry of Revenue and your Shuntian Prefecture."
Shuntian Prefecture Governor was overwhelmed. He said with a worried look on his face, "Eunuch Wang, I have an urgent matter to ask Your Majesty. Please inform him."
Wang Chengen frowned, nodded and said, "Then please follow me, Wang Fuyin. I have something to say in advance. Your Majesty was unhappy when he woke up this morning. Wang Fuyin, please wish you the best."
"Thank you, Eunuch Wang."
Wang Chengen was limping in front, and the others were following slowly behind.
Behind the Huangji Hall is the Zhongji Hall, behind the Zhongji Hall is the Jianji Hall, and behind the Jianji Hall is the Qianqing Palace, where the emperor rested and worked on a daily basis.
Arriving outside the gate of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Wang Chengen went in to report.
A moment later, everyone was summoned into the palace according to the emperor's order.
Wang Tingmei glanced around and found that Li Ruolian from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Wang Zhixin from the Eastern Depot were also there, and she was immediately overjoyed.
He took two quick steps and immediately knelt down: "Your Majesty, there was a murder in the capital last night, and I am here to report it!"
"Murder case?" Chongzhen half leaned forward, his voice carrying a hint of anger: "You are the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, a third-rank official of the imperial court. Why are you here instead of investigating a murder case? Do you want to taste the taste of a caning in the imperial court?"
When Wang Tingmei heard the word "court caning", the hairs on his body stood up!
The caning system has been a custom since Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne. It became a system during the Zhengtong period. During the Chongzhen period, the caning system was extremely harsh. The emperor would punish officials with caning if they disagreed with him. During the Ming Dynasty, the number of canings reached more than 500 times, and dozens of ministers were beaten to death.
Thinking that the emperor had not beaten anyone for five days, Wang Tingmei suddenly became afraid. He hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, this murder case is unusual. The murder happened in the mansion of Duke Yansheng, and the person who died was the nephew of Duke Yansheng."
After hearing this, Chongzhen stood up suddenly with shock written all over his face.
Li Ruolian, who was standing next to him, looked at Chongzhen and secretly gave him a thumbs up: Your Majesty's acting skills have reached a superb level!
Chongzhen frowned and asked angrily, "Why did he die? Has the murderer been caught?"
"Your Majesty..." Wang Tingmei felt like vomiting. He swallowed hard and continued, "The descendants of the Kong family died in a very tragic way. After the coroner's examination, it seems that they died at the hands of... a butcher."
"It was a dark and windy night, and the murderer was cunning. Apart from leaving a line of bloody words on the wall, there were no other clues."
Butcher? Hearing these two words, Chongzhen had already guessed how the descendants of the Kong family would die.
He was too lazy to ask, nor did he want to ask.
Then he asked for clues about the word, "What word?"
"That line of bloody words means opening the city gate and welcoming..."
"Speak, I forgive you."
"Yes, open the city gates to welcome King Chuang, otherwise everyone in the city will be killed."
Everyone present paused at the same time.
They realized that the bandits had already planted stakes in the capital, and these stakes could pop out and stab people at any time!
Chongzhen frowned slightly, "This matter is not simple!"
"I ask you, do the descendants of the Kong family have any enemies? Has any property in the family been lost? I suspect someone is committing crimes in the name of bandits!"
Wang Tingmei answered truthfully: "Your Majesty, none of them."
After pondering for a moment, Chongzhen looked at the others.
"What does Lord Li think?"
Li Banghua bowed and saluted: "Your Majesty, I think this is a signal sent by the bandits. They want to tell everyone that they have people in the capital. These people create fear, panic the people, and make the soldiers and civilians in the capital lose their confidence and determination to defend the city."
"What a vicious plan!"
"Li Chuang thief!" Chongzhen gritted his teeth and fiercely read out the three words.
Li Zicheng, who was far away outside Juyongguan, suddenly sneezed. He looked at the sun in the sky, shook his head and continued to command the attack.
In the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Chongzhen asked Wang Tingmei: "Wang Fuyin has said so much, what exactly do you want to say?"
"I ask Your Majesty to ask the Royal Guards or the Eastern Depot to assist in the investigation."
Chongzhen raised his eyebrows and said, "Jinyiwei and Dongchang are my people. You, Wang Tingmei, can't use them whenever you want! It's just a small murder case. They don't need to take action."
Wang Tingmei knelt on the ground and refused to get up: "Your Majesty, you may not know that although it is just a murder case, the identity of the deceased is extraordinary. The officials of the capital, the students of the Imperial College, and these scholars were all filled with righteous indignation when they heard about it. At this time, they have surrounded the Shuntian government office and demanded that I solve the case within a time limit."
"As long as I don't solve the case, they will surround the government office and won't leave."
"I have no one to use right now, so I ask Your Majesty to let the Royal Guards or the Eastern Depot investigate this case."
Sure enough...the scholar was outraged.
This is exactly the effect we want.
Chongzhen shook his head slightly at Wang Tingmei's request.
Some things may be coincidences once, but when they happen too many times, it is inevitable that people will become suspicious.
Once suspicion arises, the crime is established.
"No!"
"The capital is your own little piece of land. Murders have occurred repeatedly, but you don't try to solve the cases. Instead, you seek help from the Imperial Guards and the Eastern Depot. Aren't you afraid of being impeached by the cabinet and the imperial censors in the court?"
"Also, I ask you, who is the murderer?"
Wang Tingmei answered mechanically, "They are bandits."
"Then tell those students that the murderer is a bandit! The bandit is hiding among the millions of people in the capital, and the people in Shuntian Prefecture alone cannot catch him."
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