A major sin
The second sin
The more he read, the more solemn Zhao Wenhua's expression became. When he saw the three major sins, a look of panic appeared on Zhao Wenhua's face.
"Song always tells his son Shifan to tell others about the good governance of the emperor, saying that the emperor had no such intention at first, and that it was my idea that led to this. He is afraid that people in the world will not know that the power of the government lies with him. Now, he has printed the imperial edict and the notice submitted by Song in ten volumes, named Jiajing Memorials, so that the world and future generations will all say that the good things the emperor did before were all due to his suggestions, and that the emperor was incapable of anything. Is it true that when a minister does good, he is called loyal to the emperor? This is to cover up the emperor's achievements in governance, which is one of the three major crimes."
The first two crimes were not so serious as they were just hearsay and there was no actual evidence, but the third crime had real evidence.
"Jiajing Memorials"!
The book mentioned by Yang Jisheng in his third major crime does exist, and no one knows the true situation of this book better than Zhao Wenhua. The content of this book is indeed as Yang Jisheng said in his memorial, mainly including the imperial edict and the petition submitted by Song. This book was published last year, and ten issues have been published so far. As of now, a total of more than 500 sets have been printed.
The number of copies of "Jiajing Shuyi" published was very large, and Yang Jisheng must have collected a set, or even more.
In addition, the reason why Zhao Wenhua panicked was not only because the book "Jiajing Shuyi" which served as evidence did exist, but also because this book was closely related to Zhao Wenhua, and it could be said that it was promoted by Zhao Wenhua alone.
It happened last year.
That year, the Gengxu Rebellion took place. The rebels of Altan invaded Datong and killed their way to the outskirts of Beijing. Ding Rukui, the Minister of War, asked his adoptive father Yan Song how to fight and defend. His adoptive father Yan Song said that if you fight in the border, you can conceal your defeat, but if you fight outside the capital, you can't conceal your defeat. The rebels of Altan are just predators, and they will leave naturally when they are full. Ding Rukui, the Minister of War, understood what he meant and ordered all the generals not to act rashly or go out of the city to fight. He watched the soldiers of Altan burn, kill and loot outside the city for eight days. After getting the emperor's promise to pay tribute, they retreated from Gubeikou. Afterwards, the people and the court were dissatisfied, and then... Ding Rukui was pushed out by his adoptive father Yan Song as a scapegoat.
However, despite Ding Rukui taking the blame, many people in the court still cursed his adoptive father Yan Song for being incompetent, saying that he only flattered the emperor, and talked about him behind his back, which was very disrespectful. In addition, many people successively submitted memorials to impeach his adoptive father Yan Song. His adoptive father Yan Song was forced to resign and return home for a while.
Zhao Wenhua and Yan Song had a relationship where they would prosper and suffer together. Yan Song had a hard time, and Zhao Wenhua and others who were protected by Yan Song had an even harder time.
At this time, Zhao Wenhua came up with an idea to help his adoptive father Yan Song regain his reputation and trust, and also for himself.
In Zhao Wenhua's "view", the reason why those officials and ignorant scholars in the court abused his adoptive father Yan Song for being incompetent and talked about him was because they did not understand him, and all of them were hearsay and rumors. They had no idea how much his adoptive father had contributed to the emperor and the country. His adoptive father Yan Song assisted the current emperor with all his heart and soul, devoted himself to the cause, had many wise strategies, and achieved fruitful results.
Therefore, Zhao Wenhua suggested to Yan Song that he should select the ones that can be made public, have remarkable achievements, and have good governance and good deeds from the secret letters that Yan Song had presented to the emperor since he took over the government, and publish them to make them public, so that all the officials and students can know the truth of the matter, understand the achievements and greatness of his adoptive father Yan Song as the chief minister of the cabinet, and understand that his adoptive father Yan Song has done many unknown good things behind their backs without their knowledge. In this way, they will no longer say that his adoptive father Yan Song is incompetent, will no longer scold his adoptive father for only flattering the emperor, and will no longer say anything bad about his adoptive father Yan Song.
The so-called "Jie Tie Mi Zi" is a kind of letter unique to cabinet ministers. It is an informal official document besides memorials. Cabinet ministers often use Jie Tie Mi Zi to put forward their personal suggestions on military and national affairs to the emperor for his reference.
After listening to Zhao Wenhua's suggestion, Yan Song was very pleased with Zhao Wenhua and praised him a lot. He agreed to Zhao Wenhua's suggestion on the spot, personally named the publication "Jiajing Shuyi" and handed over the selection and printing of "Jiajing Shuyi" to Zhao Wenhua.
Zhao Wenhua quickly printed out the "Jiajing Memorials", and all officials above the rank of Langguan in the capital received a copy, and dozens of copies were also distributed in the Imperial Academy for circulation. For a time, the "Jiajing Memorials" became a hot book in the capital, and became a major event in the capital. Officials who had not received the book strongly requested it, and officials from the Ministry of Personnel and local officials also came to ask for the book. Yan Song could not refuse such a kind offer, so he asked Zhao Wenhua to print more than a hundred copies to give to his colleagues.
This book had a great impact. For a time, Yan Song's reputation improved a lot and the court became stable.
Yan Song praised Zhao Wenhua many times for this, and Zhao Wenhua was very proud of it and regarded it as his most proud work of his life.
However, no one expected that this "Jiajing Memorials" would be listed as the third major crime by Yang Jisheng and became the key evidence.
Now, Zhao Wenhua calmed down and thought carefully, and a layer of cold sweat suddenly appeared on his forehead and back. He had to admit that this set of "Jiajing Memorials" did have the suspicion of usurping the credit of heaven and competing for fame with the emperor.
Now, Zhao Wenhua is regretting to death.
Look further down.
The four major sins.
Zhao Wenhua's forehead and back were covered with more cold sweat. In this fourth crime, Yang Jisheng directly pointed out Zhao Wenhua's name - "The emperor ordered Song to vote, which was probably the emperor's intention to let the ministers work hard. Song ordered his son Shifan to vote on his behalf, so that the father could let the son work hard. Shifan, however, asked Zhao Wenhua and other godsons to vote together, intending to form a treacherous party to disrupt the government and cause corruption. If a vote is repeatedly changed by several hands, wouldn't the secret be leaked? Therefore, before the order was issued, the whole court already knew it..."
For the fourth crime, Yang Jisheng cited the incident in which the censor Cai Pu participated in the misstep of garrison commander Xu Shi and others, as well as the impeachment of his adoptive father Yan Song by Shen Lian. He said that these two incidents were handled in the way Donglou drafted the bill, and that cabinet ministers such as Li Ben did not change a word, proving that his adoptive father Yan Song allowed his son to usurp power and that the court was controlled by his adoptive father.
These two things are also true.
Let's look at the fifth major crime, "Yan Song ordered his eldest grandson Yan Xiaozhong to falsely report the victory of Guangdong and Guangxi and be promoted to the pacification station. He also falsely reported the merit of a man in Qiongzhou beheading seven heads and submitted it to the Ministry of Personnel. Xiaozhong reported illness, so he ordered his second grandson Yan Hu to take over. Hu also reported the merit of Xiaozhong's seven heads and was promoted to a thousand households of Jinyiwei. Now he is the manager. There is a draft of the 19th word of the military selection department. Xiaozhong and Hu are both sons of the family. They were raised by the army. It is not heard that they left home one day to join the army. How could a baby behead seven heads and falsely report military merits and falsely report Jinyiwei official titles?"
Oh shit!
How did Yang Jisheng dig this up! Moreover, he knew it in such detail, and described the details so clearly, and he also had the "Wu Xuan Si Ze Zi No. 19 Hall Draft" as evidence.
Ah!!! That’s it!!!
Yang Jisheng is now the Deputy Director of the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War. It is easy for him to check and copy the information of the Military Selection Department!
This is bad. Zhou Mian, a doctor of the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War, had impeached Yang Jisheng for this fraudulent use of military merits. However, he used the excuse of favor to get away with it at that time. But now Yang Jisheng has brought out the evidence of "Draft No. 19 of the Military Selection Department's Zezi". How can he get away with it!!!
Further down
We also saw that Yang Jisheng brought up the Gengxu Rebellion and revealed the truth about why Ding Rukui did not go to war, revealing that it was the idea of his adoptive father Yan Song. He also cited the example of Ding Rukui discovering that he was misled by his adoptive father when he was about to be executed, and crying out "Yan Song has misled me."
Seeing this, Zhao Wenhua's hands holding the copy of the memorial trembled. He swallowed his saliva, turned his head to look at Yan Song, and shouted in panic, "It's bad... It's bad... Godfather, something... something happened..."