The ministers saluted and retired according to their grades. After waiting out, Chen Yin looked at Lu Heng, his face immediately turned cold, his eyes were like knives. Zhang Jinggong and Li Shi should not be able to see them, but Zhang Jinggong said with a half-smiling smile: "Commander Lu is really a newborn calf and is not afraid of tigers, and he said that the case will be solved within three days before he even sees it. "
Lu Heng smiled respectfully at Zhang Jing and said humbly, "Let the first assistant laugh."
Zhang Jinggong is a scholar, and even if he is gloating about misfortune, he mocks it very decently. Later, Li Shi, Xia Wenjin, Yan Wei and others may not be at peace with Zhang Jinggong, but at this moment, they are all tied up, hanging high, and watching from the wall.
This is the Ming Dynasty, where civil officials and military officers fight, among military officers, Jin Yiwei and Xungui fight, and Jinyiwei and Xungui fight against themselves within themselves. The same is true for civil servants. Different origins, places of origin, and teachers have different political factions. As a result, there are many camps in the court, and the parties are fighting. If you want to do a real thing, not many people are willing to help you, but there must be many people waiting to pick the wrong.
This time, Lu Heng completely broke his face with Chen Yin. Either he died or Chen Yin died. Lu Heng didn't expect Chen Yin to be merciful to him at all. However, apart from Jin Yiwei, there were also many malicious eyes, waiting for Lu Heng to roll over.
It's just that Lu Heng has been so hard-edged during this period of time. In December last year, he almost looted the cabinet's reserve seedlings, and even the chief assistant Yang Yingning was brought down by him. Although the impeachment was done by Zhang Jinggong, the knife was handed over by Lu Heng, and when civil servants held revenge, they would not miss him.
At the beginning of this year, he has made another big move. Few people knew that Lu Heng entered the palace to investigate the haunting case in the East Palace, but the matter of his investigation of the Zhang brothers, which led to the removal of the Duke of Changguo and the Marquis of Jianchang, was well known in the city. The emperor remembers his merits in his heart, but others may not.
Now, Lu Heng took the initiative to come out and take a big bag, and also issued a military order, guaranteeing that the case would be solved within three days. The officials present almost ran out to set off firecrackers. How could they miss such a good opportunity
Lu Heng knew that there were many people who were trying to make trouble for him, and this case was quite difficult to investigate. But he seeks wealth and wealth at risk. In his world, there are only peaks and demise, and there is no middle ground.
Lu Heng had no intention of wasting time. He saluted the senior scholars and said, "I am under the order of the emperor to investigate the case. Time is running out, so I won't accompany you any more. Please walk slowly, elders, and I will go first."
Lu Heng cupped his hands, turned to Chen Yin, and said respectfully, "Du Governor Chen, this subordinate retire."
After Lu Heng finished speaking, he turned and left, ignoring what the people behind him said about him. He has a good memory and clearly remembers that the grievances came from the southwest corner. He rushed to the west wall of the palace at the fastest speed, but as soon as he turned the corner, his eyes became cold.
Many soldiers in hooded armor surrounded the front. Through the densely packed legs and armor, they could see two women with white cloths in their mouths, tied to the ground by ropes, shivering and huddled together. The leader of the soldiers was Fu Tingzhou.
If it weren't for the wrong occasion, Lu Heng would have wanted to laugh. What kind of bad relationship did he have with Fu Tingzhou recently, and they met again so soon. With so many officers accompanying him, he was the one who caught the civilian woman.
When Fu Tingzhou heard the voice, he turned around and saw Lu Heng, his face also hardened. Lu Heng approached, glanced at the civilian women behind the soldiers, and said with a smile: "Marquis of Zhenyuan, it's been a long time. Just now the emperor heard someone shouting injustice in the hall and sent me out to take a look. I also asked who responded so quickly. , is the Marquis of Zhenyuan."
Today, Fu Tingzhou and Marquis Wuding passed the sign. He was in a bad mood and didn't want to go back to his room to stay by himself, so he patrolled the palace wall. When he was thinking wildly, he suddenly heard someone shouting grievances, Fu Tingzhou hurried over and caught the two.
Although the palace was heavily guarded, the preparation time was rushed, and the crowd was cluttered, so it was difficult to completely separate the crowd, and the two of them didn't know how to get in. Fortunately, Fu Tingzhou arrived in time, and they were arrested after just shouting. Fu Tingzhou thought it couldn't be spread in the hall, but he never thought that the emperor heard it.
Judging from Lu Heng's appearance, this matter should be left to him. Fu Tingzhou kept his expression still, and said, "It's just my duty. Commander Lu is not escorting the emperor. What are you doing here?"
Lu Heng showed Fu Tingzhou the waist card of Jinyiwei, nodded slightly, and said, "The emperor cares about Limin and ordered me to find out the grievance. Thank you for your help, Marquis Zhenyuan, I will take him away."
Lu Heng said and motioned to Jin Yiwei behind him to take the two women away. Fu Tingzhou narrowed his eyes, and suddenly said, "How should Commander Lu handle the errand, this marquis has no intention of intervening. But, how do you know that when they complain about grievances, they do have grievances? What if they just use this as an excuse to approach the palace and intend to assassinate them?"
Lu Heng knew that Fu Tingzhou would do this. If it was someone else, Lu Heng wanted to bring someone up, who would dare not do it? But Fu Tingzhou is different. The grievances between them are not limited to differences in the court. In March, Lu Heng openly took Wang Yanqing away and replaced him in front of Fu Tingzhou. After that, he destroyed Fu Tingzhou's plan to get close to Wang Yanqing several times. Now Fu Tingzhou must hate him so much, how can he let him take people away
Fu Tingzhou really didn't want to let go of this heaven-sent opportunity. It was purely accidental for the two of them to rush over to complain, and it just so happened that Lu Heng took over the case. Fu Tingzhou finally got hold of Lu Heng's handle, how could he give up his chips? He had to settle accounts with Lu Heng.
It would be even better if he could take the opportunity to exchange Wang Yanqing.
Lu Heng put away the token, the smile on his lips did not change, and his eyes faintly flashed a cold light: "Marquis Zhenyuan, this is an oracle from the sage, do you want to disobey the emperor's order?"
Fu Tingzhou was indifferent. He looked at Lu Heng coldly, and said tit for tat: "Protecting the safety of the palace is also the emperor's order. Commander Lu said that the prince does not agree with him, and I am sorry to accept the order."
Lu Heng issued a military order in front of everyone and solved the case within three days. He didn't have time to fight with Fu Tingzhou here. Lu Heng glanced behind him and said, "Since the Marquis Zhenyuan doesn't believe it, why don't you join me in interrogating the two of them. Is it possible to know the grievances immediately. What does Marquis Zhenyuan think?"
Fu Tingzhou thought about it and agreed. He could use witnesses to threaten, but he couldn't really hinder Lu Heng from handling the case. After all, this is the emperor's decree. If Lu Heng, a lunatic, bites Fu Tingzhou without finding out, Fu Tingzhou won't get better. Why don't you go over there and see what Lu Heng wants to do.
The two took a step back and reached a consensus for the time being. But Fu Tingzhou was still unwilling to befriend him. He asked the soldiers of the Wucheng Bingma Division to press the two women forward. Lu Heng didn't want to waste time and went with him. Just as they were about to set off, the prefect of Weihui House ran over with a few cronies, panting and shouting, "Commander Lu, please stay."
Lu Heng turned his head, Cheng Zhifu stopped in front of Lu Heng, kept wiping the sweat from his forehead, out of breath and said: "Commander Lu, it's all because of the poor governance of Xiaguan, which disturbed the holy car. Xiaguan does not Dare to make Commander Lu tired, these two should be handed over to the subordinate officer for interrogation. The subordinate officer will definitely investigate clearly, and will never delay the return of Lord Lu."
It's about Lu Heng's life, how could he let him go. Lu Heng said lightly: "Cheng Zhifu has so many people under its control, how can you know everything? Cheng Zhifu doesn't have to feel bad about it, I can check it."
Cheng Zhifu was still reluctant, and repeatedly said that he would not dare to bother. If it were normal, Lu Heng wouldn't listen to other people's disagreement when investigating the case, but this is Wei Hui. Without the cooperation of local officials, he would never find out the cause and effect within three days. Lu Heng thought that there was one more Fu Tingzhou anyway, and he didn't care about another one, so he said, "I was going to the quiet room with Zhenyuan Hou to ask questions. Since Cheng Zhifu is not at ease, let's come together."
When Cheng Zhifu heard this, he knew that he could no longer stop Jin Yiwei from intervening, so he could only reluctantly agree.
The emperor's southern tour brought more than 15,000 people, ordinary soldiers camped outside, accompanying officials and servants stayed in the palace. At this moment, it was sunset time, and the palace was busy and messy. It was not difficult to find an empty room to interrogate the suspect. Lu Heng entered first, and Fu Tingzhou looked around and found no ambush, so he followed cautiously.
Cheng Zhifu wiped his sweat and followed behind the two.
This house is remote, far from where the emperor stayed, and the people who live here are not very high-ranking, so the cleaning is very sloppy, and many places are still covered with dust. The house is three rooms long, with paintings and calligraphy hanging in the middle of the hall, and a set of huanghuali tables and chairs below, which can be seen to be newly purchased. On the east and west sides hung drapes, which were stacked on the ground, and the screens slanted across the back.
Fu Tingzhou frowned as soon as he came in, but this place is far away from the crowd, remote and quiet, and it was just right for interrogation, so Fu Tingzhou had to endure for the time being. Lu Heng should sit in the middle of the Mingtang, Fu Tingzhou glanced at Lu Heng without making a sound, and sat on the armchair on the right, with Cheng Zhifu following carefully below.
When the adults were seated, the soldiers pushed up the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, who had been tied into zongzi. The soldiers escorted them to their knees in the hall, and then pulled out the white cloth from their mouths. They had never seen this kind of battle before, they had long been frightened.
Lu Heng silently swept over the two of them. The two women were one old and one young. One was in her forties and the other was in her early twenties. Judging by their age, they matched their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. The old woman was wearing blue coarse cloth, her hair was wrapped in a dark blue cloth, her face was wrinkled, her knuckles were thick, and her fingers had black cracks. The younger lady had brighter clothes than the old lady, with a wooden hairpin on her head, her skin was firm, but there were small dry skin on her cheekbones, and her fingers were the same color as her face and neck.
She looks like a peasant woman, and her skin color matches that of a rural woman who has been exposed to the sun all the year round. Lu Heng asked, "Who are you and why did you trespass into the palace?"
Although the old woman didn't know the people in front of her, but judging from their clothing and temperament, I'm afraid they were all high-ranking officials they couldn't afford to offend. The old woman was trembling and kowtowed, saying, "The woman's husband's surname is Liu, and the villagers call her Aunt Liu, who lives in Hegu Village, Qi County. The woman has no other thoughts, but the woman's husband and son are gone. , the women really have no choice, I heard people say that the emperor and the empress will pass by here, so they dared to come here to claim their grievances."
Cheng Zhifu was almost furious when he heard it: "Your husband and son are gone, just go outside and look for it. Who gave you the courage to smash the holy car?"
Aunt Liu was reprimanded by Cheng Zhifu, so frightened that she dared not lift her head, her daughter-in-law shrank behind her, her body trembling uncontrollably. Lu Heng swept across the hall lightly, and said, "Your Majesty loves the people like a son. He is very concerned when you hear your grievances, and sent me to inquire about it. If you have any grievances, you can speak bluntly now. If you dare to hide..."
Lu Heng didn't say anything else, but Aunt Liu fully understood the meaning behind. Strange to say, among the officials present, the fat official on the right glared at them, eager to rush up to tear them to pieces; the other man was taciturn, his face was cold and serious, and it was frightening just by looking at them; The one sitting alone in the middle, fair-skinned and handsome, with a smile on his mouth, seems to be the kindest face, but in fact, Aunt Liu is the most afraid of him.
Aunt Liu was trembling in her heart, and nodded quickly: "Minwomen dare not speak nonsense. Minwomen and daughter-in-law have worked so hard to come here just to ask for something clear, and they will never dare to deceive the adults."
Lu Heng said calmly: "I will check if it is true. If there is any grievance, I will definitely give you an explanation. Now, you will explain the whole thing in detail."
Aunt Liu took a deep breath and stumbled and said: "In April this year, Li Zheng sent a message to every household in the village, saying that the emperor and empress in the palace would pass by us, and the county magistrate asked each household to have two men. , go to the practice palace in the city. There are only two men in our family, and their father and son have gone with the villagers. Usually, my wife and I can deal with things in the field, but we are about to harvest rice. Our mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are looking forward to it every day. I look forward to it every night, and I can't wait for them to come back. It's already July, and the emperor and the empress should be here. Why can't the palace be repaired? We went to the village to ask, and Lizheng didn't know what was going on. We were taking us to the county, and after several trips, the county magistrate said that the men in Hegu Village encountered a heavy rain on the road and were swept away by the flood, and all the men in the village were gone."
Hearing this, Lu Heng quietly glanced at Cheng Zhifu: "Cheng Zhifu, is there such a thing?"
Cheng Zhifu looked embarrassed and hurriedly said: "The emperor's southern tour is a major event. Wei Hui is fortunate to pick him up. Of course, the palace must be well arranged. I was afraid that the construction period would be too late, so I recruited laborers from all over the world. But Wei Hui has been constantly moving from natural disasters since ancient times. Some time ago Heavy rain, flash floods occurred in many places, and their team happened to encounter flash floods, and there was nothing they could do."
Lu Heng asked, "No one was spared?"
The muscles on Cheng Zhifu's face trembled faintly, and sweat oozes from his forehead: "Xiaguan does not know... Mr. Lu forgives the sin, and Xiaguan will let someone investigate."
Lu Heng waved his hand and said, "No need. Since no one came back, I think the whole team will be miserable."
He looked at the pair of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and asked, "Your husband didn't come back after he went out. I can understand your grief, but natural disasters are ruthless and far beyond human ability. Why do you complain?"
Aunt Liu saw that the grown-up was discussing matters and his words were quite calm, so she dared to say: "Sir, you don't know anything, our old Liu Nong worked as a boatman on the river when he was slack, and he knew the river course very well. My son also soaked in the water since he was a child. , the water is very good, and they can swim back and forth in the river, how could their father and son be washed away by the water?"
When Cheng Zhifu heard it, he scolded angrily: "Long hair and short knowledge, it's ignorant! Flash floods are changing rapidly, and people are washed away in the blink of an eye.
The daughter-in-law Mrs. Liu heard it and whispered: "My father-in-law is on the water to make a living. He is very cautious when entering the water. He has always warned us to go out to check the weather. If it rains heavily, he will never approach the river."
"It's stupid." Cheng Zhifu was furious and scolded, "How can the labor force be the same as usual, when there were more than your family in the team at that time, which round will they be the masters?"
Aunt Liu said: "The county magistrate also said the same thing. After returning to the village, he was persuading us to look away. This should be an accident. Our mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had already accepted their fate, but since their father and son disappeared, the osprey at home has disappeared. The osprey flew back suddenly two days ago with a cloth strap tied to its claws. I thought the cloth was familiar, so I took it off and looked at it, but it turned out to be my son's clothes with the words 'Save me' written in blood."
Cheng Zhifu took a small breath, suffocated his face, and was speechless. Hearing this, Lu Heng said, "Where's the stuff?"
"Here." Aunt Liu hurriedly flipped through her clothes and took out a blood-stained piece of cloth from her belt. The soldier took the thing and handed it to Lu Heng. Lu Heng took it over and opened it, and at a glance, he was sure that it was human blood. He raised his eyelids lightly, stared at Aunt Liu and asked, "Who knows about this piece of cloth?"
"Only the two of us." Aunt Liu hurriedly said, "We originally wanted to go to the county magistrate to report the case, but when the yamen saw us, they slammed us out, saying that the flood was missing, so let's not disturb the county magistrate again. How can we beg It was useless, and in the end we really had no choice, so we ran outside the palace, trying to see if we could avenge our grievances."
Lu Heng handed the cloth to his people and motioned them to put it away. Lu Heng looked at Cheng Zhifu, Cheng Zhifu's face was completely white, sweating and restless.
"Cheng Zhifu." Lu Heng said slowly, "What's going on here, do you know?"
Cheng Zhifu opened his mouth but was speechless, apparently ignorant. Lu Heng didn't want to waste time with him, and said, "Mr. Cheng, there seems to be something strange about this matter, and it may not be an ordinary disappearance. I'll ask Mr. Cheng to send the household registration and geographical records of Hegu Village in a while, and the last three The disappearance case of the year will be brought together."
Cheng Zhifu should be, how dare you talk too much. After Lu Heng's preliminary questions, he will then need to verify the authenticity of the testimony of the two before making further arrangements. He said to Jin Yiwei naturally: "Take them down and imprison them, and don't allow anyone to approach."
Jin Yiwei was about to answer when Fu Tingzhou laughed and interrupted Lu Heng mercilessly: "These two people speak clearly, they may not be ordinary women, maybe they are assassins in disguise. Commander Lu wants to check the file, I am afraid There is no time to take care of the prisoners, according to Ben Hou, these two should continue to be guarded by the soldiers and horses."
The five city soldiers and horses are in charge of the security of the capital, and Fu Tingzhou's words are also reasonable. Now Lu Heng's key clue is these two people, how could Fu Tingzhou let go of such a big deal.
Lu Heng had a sullen look on his face. He patted the armrest and looked at Fu Tingzhou coldly: "Marquis Zhenyuan, what are your intentions of detaining Jinyiwei's witness?"
The Liu family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, who were kneeling on the ground, almost gasped when they heard these words. They only thought that this was a high-ranking official from the capital, but they did not expect that one was Lord Hou and the other was Jin Yiwei. It is no wonder that the prefects are all sitting by the side, trembling with fear.
Lord Lu and the Marquis of Zhenyuan quarreled, and Cheng Zhifu kept silent, for fear that he would accidentally become cannon fodder. Others are afraid of Lu Heng, but Fu Tingzhou is not afraid. He also snorted coldly, his tone was iron, and there was no room for change: "This marquis is only protecting the safety of the palace. Does Mr. Lu have to put the emperor's safety at risk in order to investigate the case?"
"Okay." Lu Heng stood up from the seat and looked down at Fu Tingzhou, "There are so many witnesses today, this is my witness, but the Marquis of Zhenyuan insists on taking care of him personally. Marquis Zhenyuan must take good care of him, and let him be yours. Here, if something goes wrong and I can't investigate it, then I'll go to the pre-Holy judge."
Fu Tingzhou was startled, and suddenly realized that this grandson did it on purpose! Lu Heng deliberately dumped the blame. If the case is found out, it will undoubtedly be Lu Heng's credit; if it can't be found out, or if the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are dead, then Lu Heng can put the blame entirely on Fu Tingzhou.
Who asked Fu Tingzhou to hold his witnesses
Fu Tingzhou clenched the armrest in anger, but quickly calmed down. With witnesses in his hands, Lu Heng could neither interrogate nor torture, and all Jin Yiwei's methods were useless. Fu Tingzhou didn't believe that Lu Heng could find out the results just by looking at the dossier. Sooner or later, Lu Heng asked to come to the door, and Fu Tingzhou waited.
But after being calculated by Lu Heng, Fu Tingzhou was still very angry. He got up with a cold face, didn't even want to say anything at the scene, snorted "go" coldly, and left with the people of Wucheng Soldiers and Horses. Cheng Zhifu did not dare to stay with Lu Heng alone, so he quickly took the opportunity to slip away.
After the two of them went out, a slow smile appeared on Lu Heng's face. Thanks to Fu Tingzhou for solving a problem for him.
The interior of Jinyiwei is not a piece of iron, and there are various factions in it. Lu Heng can guard against others, but he cannot guard against internal ghosts. He had offended Chen Yin severely just now. He was afraid that Chen Yin would plant someone among the Jinyiwei and directly kill the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. After that, even if Lu Heng solved the case, he would inevitably be accused of ineffectiveness in the emperor's heart.
So Lu Heng deliberately angered Fu Tingzhou and asked Fu Tingzhou to guard. After that, no matter what went wrong, Lu Heng could push it to Fu Tingzhou.
Lu Heng pitted Fu Tingzhou and was in a happy mood. The suffocation of the day finally dissipated. The subordinates showed embarrassment, and asked worriedly: "Commander, the person is in the hands of the Marquis of Zhenyuan, and even the confession cannot be recorded, what should I do?"
"It's okay." Lu Heng said lightly, "Follow Cheng Youhai to get the file, as long as it's related things, bring them back, don't let them use tricks."
The subordinates clasped their fists, and the sound of sonorous and neat footsteps sounded, and soon everyone was gone. After there was no one around, Lu Heng walked to the east room, walked around the screen, and asked, "Qingqing, how are you?"