But it's too late!
The misfortune of Mrs. Feng, the wife of Marquis Pingxi, was just the beginning. Soon after, the Sansi had some preliminary results. The magistrate of Fuyuan County at that time was brought back to the capital, interrogated overnight, and tortured until he finally gave in.
He said that he had received 6,000 taels of silver from someone, and then he betrayed the information and revealed when Master Wei and his entourage left Fuyuan County.
Six thousand taels of silver is not a small amount.
More importantly, this confirms that the appearance of the bandits was not accidental, but someone had ulterior motives.
As if encouraged, Censor Chen and Qian Shiyun became more active and followed the clue all the way. Finally, after four or five days, they made new progress and found the bandit leader who was said by the magistrate of Fuyuan County to have given him the silver.
Those bandits were no longer bandits. Some of them were caught by the imperial court. Some were beheaded, some were sent to the border, and some were exiled. But the one who had given money to the county magistrate was the only one that was found out by Censor Chen after he used the Embroidered Uniform Guard. It turned out that he had changed his name, killed a county magistrate who was about to take up his post in Shu, and became an official.
Not only did he become an official, he also took possession of other people's wives and daughters.
What's even more ridiculous is that this guy has a successful career in the government and is now a local prefect.
This is absolutely ridiculous and only happens once in a century. If it were used for storytelling, I'm afraid there wouldn't be enough room on the overpass!
All the adults were stunned. They really didn't expect such a thing to happen. However, they didn't care anymore. They arrested the man and interrogated him. It turned out that he had someone backing him up, someone directing him, and someone close to him, so he could act so tyrannically without any scruples.
The person who was shielding him was, without a doubt, Qiu Chuying.
With the information about this bandit, Censor Chen breathed a sigh of relief, and couldn't help but sigh at Wei An's foresight - it was really amazing that Wei An could even dig out such a secret!
How on earth does her brain look like? She only has one nose and two eyes, so how can she be so smart? This is simply not something that can be explained by the word "smart"... ...
But now was not the time to think about these things. He suppressed the shock and confusion in his heart, carefully reviewed the case again, and then officially opened the court to interrogate Qiu Chuying.
Because the trial was supervised by the Prime Minister, the people from the Dali Temple would not dare to do anything even if they did not cooperate. The people from the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate all played an active role, and the trial process finally went smoothly.
There was almost no need to say anything more. As soon as the bandit showed up, Qiu Chuying was paralyzed.
The case from many years ago finally saw the light of day again. Censor Chen sorted out all the thick files and listed the Ming family's crimes one by one.
But he did not mention these things first, but asked Qiu Chuying why she ordered the bandits to hunt down the Ming family.
None of the hundreds of people in the Ming family and the group of people taken away by Master Wei survived. No one would believe that there was no foul play in the Ming family case.
The matter of clearing up the Ming family's old case finally turned from being a non-issue to a thunderclap that resounded over the capital.
No one expected that Emperor Longqing would slap himself in the face.
The matter of the Ming family back then was clearly the conclusion he made with his own words. According to common sense, even if Emperor Longqing himself had died, his son would not have dared to bring up such a serious case of treason and change the conclusion.
But Emperor Longqing did just that, which caused an uproar in the court and the country.
But what was even more frightening was the progress reported by the three courts - the hundreds of people of the Ming family did not really encounter bandits, but were instructed by Qiu Chuying to go to the bandits to cooperate with them from outside!
With this section, is it clear whether the Ming family was wronged or not
Everyone has his own scale in his heart.
Emperor Longqing was furious and ordered the three courts to intensify the investigation and make sure to get a result.
Censor Chen continued his efforts and cooperated well with Qian Shiyun. Even after the Ming family was destroyed, those secret letters between the Ming family and the rebellious chieftains that were found in the study of the Ming family's ancestral home were checked out and determined to be forged by Qiu Chuying.
With all the evidence and witnesses, Qiu Chuying had no choice but to admit it.
But no matter what, there is no doubt that the Ming family was wronged.
The Ming family was so big, but it was wiped out, not even a cat or a dog was left. Even if he wanted to send back the Ming family's assets, there was no way. Emperor Longqing felt quite depressed, and for the first time ever, he talked about this matter with Prime Minister Xia Song: "It was my negligence that caused Empress Yuan's family to suffer such a disaster. How can I face her in the future?"
Xia Song knew best how to guess the emperor's intentions, but he didn't dare to comment easily. He lowered his head and shook his head gently: "Someone deliberately deceived me. How can this be the emperor's fault?"
Emperor Longqing glanced at him again and said, "Everyone in the world knows that the Ming family was wronged, but I am the only one who doesn't know. Could it be that I can't tolerate meritorious officials, and I am the kind of mediocre ruler who hides his good bows when the birds are gone?"
Xia Song's eyebrows twitched.
What Emperor Longqing meant was that the injustice of the Ming family had become known to everyone in recent years through the so-called Yunnan rebels, so the people behind the scenes who dared to frequently attack the Wei family after the Ming family was killed finally angered him completely, so much so that he would rather tell the world that he was wrong than to overturn the verdict for the Ming family.
But after his momentary anger passed, he became hesitant again.
It is extremely difficult for an emperor to admit that he was wrong, even if he was deceived.
"Your Majesty is the ruler of the world, and you will make your own decision." Xia Song was no pushover, and he understood Emperor Longqing's intentions best. After a brief thought, he said, "The Yunnan incident has never been resolved since the reign of the previous emperor. If it can be resolved today, it will be a great achievement for generations to come, and Your Majesty will be remembered in history..."
This flattery really touched the heart of Emperor Longqing.
He now knew whether the Ming family was wronged or not, but the issue of face was extremely difficult to deal with.
But once compared with the rebellion in Yunnan that lasted for so long, the face issue was not so embarrassing - after all, he was just deceived, and he did not order the killing of any member of the Ming family - the Ming family case had not even been tried, but Qiu Chuying had planned to kill all of them.
He just needed to show his great anger at the injustice suffered by the Ming family.
In view of this, he immediately ordered Xia Song: "This fact is a heinous crime! It must be investigated thoroughly!"
Xia Song quickly stood up and responded.
At the grand court meeting on the second day, Emperor Longqing lost his temper and angrily ordered the three courts to re-examine Qiu Chuying and clear the Ming family's name.
As soon as this incident happened, it immediately shocked the government and the public.
What was even more unexpected was that Emperor Longqing issued an edict of repentance and ordered the cabinet to discuss the issue of recruiting the rioters in Yunnan who were rebelling under the banner of the Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Longqing attacked with one move after another, almost stunning all the civil and military officials.
Several princes were so frightened that their hands and feet were cold. They didn't know what to do and felt like their butts were on fire.