Zhu Qi forced himself to remain calm and said,
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the strange occurrences in the capital have been investigated to some extent... uh, there's a group of credit-selling vendors going around the capital spreading rumors, uh, saying... saying..."
Lü Fang angrily said, "What did they say? Speak up!"
Zhu Qi became anxious, daring not to speak, and stammered, "They're just spreading rumors..."
"This rascal! You dare defy me, tell me what they said?"
Lü Fang walked a few steps closer and lightly kicked the kneeling Zhu Qi.
Zhu Qi sighed inwardly, decided to go all out, and boldly said,
"The credit-selling vendors say, 'We'll come to collect the money again when the eight bulls die together!'"
Hiss!
What?
Lü Fang's eyes went black, and for a moment, he was almost scared to death.
One must know that
throughout history, dynasties had attached great importance to prophecies. Books like Tuiben Tu were all kept as secret imperial records. The so-called "astronomy" of the Imperial Observatory often referred to celestial phenomena, and it was treated with extreme importance, with a specific crime called "private study of astronomy." As for prophecies circulated among the populace, officials often kept a close watch. The Directorate of Ceremonial, in charge of the empire's eyes and ears, naturally included this aspect.
Upon hearing the words "eight bulls," Lü Fang's mind instinctively leaped to the character "Zhu."
They naturally understood that if something were to happen to the Great Ming, prophecies and rumors would likely focus on the characters "eight bulls." This was because during the late Yuan Dynasty, there was also the saying "eight bulls break Youzhou," which at the time referred to the character "Zhu." From then on, "eight bulls" became a highly sensitive term.
At this thought,
Lü Fang quietly knelt before the two, not daring to raise his head. All three felt their bodies tremble, seemingly able to hear each other's breathing.
At some point,
Jiajing had stood up, and a faint voice came, carrying an unprecedentedly indifferent tone—
"Eight bulls? Zhu..."
Heh heh,
"This is the first time I've heard of it... Zhu Qi, what else did you hear?"
Zhu Qi then slightly raised his head, and seeing that Jiajing's complexion was not bad, he replied, "Those court officials are saying that Your Majesty has officially abandoned the path of the sages. Heaven does not bless us, which is why the twelve states have formed an alliance... Some court officials also say that many South Sea countries were designated by the founding emperor as nations never to be conquered, and now they have become rebellious, so they should reflect on themselves..."
Mmm,
Jiajing walked slowly on the trigrams, as if not listening at all.
Zhu Qi then continued,
"The common people say that Old Yan Song hates Your Majesty for discarding him after his usefulness, and he's decided to go all out. All scholars in the empire who serve as officials are dissatisfied, and the empire is about to fall into chaos... They also say that the credit-selling vendors were found by Yan Song and his son..."
Mmm mmm,
Jiajing stopped at this point, looked down, then paced away again, asking casually,
"Oh? Have you investigated thoroughly? Where are these credit-selling vendors from?"
Zhu Qi coughed lightly and said,
"Your servants have investigated. Most of the credit-selling vendors are beggars. Among those from the surrounding areas of the capital, there were a few people from beyond the passes who were paid ten taels of silver each to come into the city and sell their knives on credit. We have also investigated these knives, and they were forged beyond the passes."
Beyond the passes?
Jiajing snorted and suddenly said,
"Lü Fang, are the people you've assigned so capable? After investigating for a few days, this is all you've found for me?"
Lü Fang, both shocked and angered, cursed the two men,
"What are you good for? Why aren't you investigating further? What are you all standing around for?"
Zhu Qi and Xu Jiu breathed a sigh of relief and scrambled out of Yuxi Palace.
Jiajing sat back down and said leisurely,
"Xun above, Kun below, this is the Guà hexagram... Lü Fang, do you remember the fifth line of the Guà hexagram?"
Lü Fang stood up at this moment and respectfully said,
"Your Majesty, the fifth line of the Guà hexagram, I recall it is: 'Observing my life, the noble man is without blame.'"
Jiajing said calmly, "Do you know what it means?"
One must know that
Lü Fang's original name was Li Fang. Jiajing, to fulfill a certain numerical pattern, gave him the surname of Lü Chunyang, hence Lü Fang. This was because Lü Fang had a strong understanding of the Book of Changes. For forty years, Lü Fang had listened to him talk about cultivation almost every day, and naturally, he had read the Book of Changes by heart.
At this moment,
Lü Fang said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the fifth line of the Guà hexagram is originally the hexagram of the Son of Heaven... It speaks of the Son of Heaven's ancestral temples and the hearts of the people... Your Majesty, your servant believes that the imperial edict allowing Prince Yu to go to Qufu to offer sacrifices to Confucius should be proclaimed to the world, right? If this continues, your servant worries..."
Hmph!
Jiajing's expression suddenly changed, and he said,
"What do you worry about? Do you worry that the eight bulls will die together? Or do you worry that the Great Ming will fall?"
He closed his eyes, his face like still water, and after a long while, he said indifferently,
"Yan Song has also resorted to these tricks... Since you know that the Guà hexagram is the hexagram of the Son of Heaven, you should understand that this hexagram means the ruler should be upright to observe the world... With Yan Song's narrow-mindedness and malevolence, what kind of climate can he create?"
Lü Fang quickly said,
"Your servant also feels that Yan Song has read so many books by sages, how could he resort to such low-class tactics..."
Hmph,
Jiajing said again,
"Tell Wu Dui to keep a close watch on the capital's garrisons... and then transfer Wang Chonggu from Xuanda to Jiliao, to take over as the Grand Coordinator of Jizhou, jointly managing with Yang Bo..."
Lü Fang suddenly realized and blurted out,
"Your Majesty, could it be Yang Bo's side...?"
Hmph,
"Send a few more people to Jizhou to investigate secretly, send more people, and report back once a month."
"Your servant understands."
...
Zhenhai Guard.
Zhu Mo, Yu Dayou, and Zheng Qin had been staying at Genshan Academy for several days. As expected, the first batch of prisoners could only endure for four or five days before their pact of mutual silence collapsed.
Among the first hundred people, the first to confess were several pirates, who reported more than ten ronin, as well as five or six samurai from Toyotomi's domain, and seven or eight samurai from Hizen Province. These samurai, in turn, reported several samurai and ronin they knew.
Thus,
the truth was quickly uncovered—
Among these one hundred people, there were twenty-three samurai, thirty-one ronin, thirty-five pirates, nine merchants, and two locals who were inadvertently involved.
Then came the second batch, the third batch, the fourth batch...
The results grew, and the situation became clearer. Zhu Mo had the prefect find over a dozen clerks to record all the confessions daily, along with evidence of mutual accusations; then came the samurai swords engraved with my mark, followed by many matchlock guns, and some falconet cannons.
With this, Yu Dayou and Zheng Qin were immediately convinced. In just over ten days, they had uncovered the detailed backgrounds of over four hundred people, which was truly miraculous.
Liu Yingjie also arrived at Zhenhai Guard with three legal clerks to prepare the case files for these Japanese pirates according to Zhu Mo's wishes, and finally to devise a suitable method for sentencing.
Liu Yingjie, as the Judicial Commissioner, personally led the team, and since he was an experienced legal official, he quickly prepared the case files. However, there was one point he did not quite understand—
How should war crimes be determined?