Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"Ridiculous! It is unfortunate for the Ming Dynasty to have such a shameless person like you in the court!"

Liu Yuliang's beard was so crooked by anger. It turned out that it didn't have any beard when he questioned him, but it suddenly appeared now. Is he taking me for a fool?

"This is the situation. Sir Liu, believe it or not, we have evidence."

The angrier Liu Yuliang got, the calmer Zhang Shikang became.

I think it was these old guys who made things difficult for and framed others. Now the situation is reversed. No matter how right you are, I have evidence in my hands.

But Zheng Sanjun and others would not let it go and insisted that it was Sun and Lu who acted on their own and framed loyal officials.

Zhang Shikang was not to be outdone. His two loyal generals, Sun Dasheng and Xu Wenyuan, worked the hardest and were just about to start a fight with the group.

Finally, with the mediation of Emperor Chongzhen, the two sides calmed down temporarily.

However, as soon as the other government offices finished their reports, the two sides immediately started arguing about the matter again, and the entire morning court was in chaos and ended in a bad mood.

On the second, third, and fourth days, after finishing the daily discussions, Zheng Sanjun and others brought up the matter again, requesting Emperor Chongzhen to investigate the matter thoroughly and give justice to the Shanxi merchants.

Although the Shanxi merchants did not have deep ties with the Donglin Party, they knew that if they wanted to do things for the Ming Dynasty, they could not do without the support of the court, so the annual tributes were always considerable.

Even for their own reputation, they will not give up.

This situation continued until the fifth day, on which day, Jingyuan Bohu Dawei led 6,000 elite soldiers and finally transported the stolen goods obtained by Shanxi merchants, including important witnesses and material evidence, to the capital.

"I, Lu Xiangsheng/Sun Chuanting, risk my life to report this:

The incident of the Shanxi merchant happened suddenly. After investigation, more than 300 sets of armor, more than 800 swords, hoes, and other items, bows and crossbows were found in the residence of Shanxi merchant Fan Yongdou...

Jin Merchant Wang Yongfa...

Jin Liangyu, a Shanxi merchant...

Xiong Yinglong, the lieutenant commander of Zhangjiakou Fort, colluded with Shanxi merchants, sold off weapons and ironware in the camp to enrich himself, and accepted bribes of 190,000 taels of silver from Shanxi merchants...

After the incident was exposed, Fan Yongdou and other Shanxi merchants gathered thousands of servants and joined forces with Xiong Yinglong, intending to break through the pass and surrender to the Jian Nu, but were eventually defeated by our army.

Xiong Yinglong, Fan Yongdou and other Shanxi merchants were all executed.

From the 21 Shanxi merchants, a total of more than 19,187,700 taels of gold and silver, more than 800,000 hectares of fertile land, more than 300 shops, more than 700 carts of jewelry, jade, antiques, calligraphy and paintings were seized..."

Wang Chengen read out the official memorials of Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting in public, and all the civil and military officials in the court were shocked when they heard it.

The whole thing sounds outrageous, and the total amount of gold and silver seized is even more outrageous, nearly 20 million taels.

This official report was not completely consistent with the private letter Zhang Shikang received from Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting. Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting cleverly concealed what should be hidden.

The cause and process of the incident were simply skipped, but the result was very detailed. Not only were witnesses and material evidence provided, but even the account books of various Shanxi merchants were brought in.

In short, there was a mixture of truth and falsehood, and there was a lot of noise in the court for a while. The nobles were confused, and the civil officials were arguing, and it seemed that they had different opinions.

"Old Chen, brother, I originally thought your family was rich enough, but I didn't expect these damn Shanxi merchants to be much richer than us!"

Xining Marquis Song Yude whispered to Taining Marquis Chen Yanzuo, his face full of disbelief.

"These bastards hid so much silver, but instead of helping the court, they dared to collaborate with the enemy and betray the country. They really deserve to be put to death."

Chen Yanzuo muttered.

He also felt that he was quite wealthy in Beijing. Although he couldn't be the richest man in Beijing, he could at least be among the top five.

But compared with this group of low-class merchants, he... he couldn't even make it into the top 20.

This is really outrageous.

The other nobles and relatives were also filled with righteous indignation, thinking that killing these wealthy people would solve the court's urgent needs.

Instead, two different voices emerged among the civil servants. After Wang Chengen read the memorial, he took out the account books of Shanxi merchants' collusion with the Jiannu, as well as some paper materials.

This led some civil officials to believe that if these Shanxi merchants had really colluded with the Jiannu, they deserved to be put to death.

However, another group of civil officials believed that the memorial was full of nonsense and that the account books could be falsified. It was difficult to accuse the Shanxi merchants of such a serious crime based on just a memorial.

As for that terrifying family fortune, there was no crime of huge assets of unknown origin at that time. Whatever money the family had was earned by others.

"Lord Jingyuan, I want to ask you, did you see with your own eyes that the Shanxi merchants colluded with Xiong Yinglong, the lieutenant general of Zhangjiakou Fort, to rebel?" Zheng Sanjun stared at Hu Dawei with his sharp eyes.

"Of course. I was the one who helped suppress that rebellion." Hu Dawei glared back with his big eyes.

"Then I'll ask you again, even if that's the case, why were all the 21 Shanxi merchants exterminated, with not a single person left alive?"

Zheng Sanjun asked again, pointing directly to the most strange part of this memorial.

However, Hu Dawei still did not hesitate at all.

"We didn't intend to kill them all, but those merchants allowed their servants to resist and killed many soldiers. Our men got angry and used both muskets and bows and crossbows, which led to this result."

"The memorial mentioned that the Jin merchants had armor hidden in their homes. I want to ask you, have you seen the armor in the treasury with your own eyes?"

"That's natural."

"How do you prove that the armor wasn't put there by someone with bad intentions?"

Hu Dawei frowned, even though Governor Lu had already taken into account the questions he might be asked before coming.

But such a tricky question still stumped him. After all, Hu Dawei didn't even know how to read. He was just a rough guy who climbed up from the bottom of society through military exploits.

It was also at this time that Zhang Shikang lost his temper.

"Tsk! How can you ask such a question?

Why don't you prove it?" Zhang Shikang said unhappily.

These past few days have been spent in quarrels, and Zhang Shikang was too lazy to even mention Zheng Sanjun's name.

"Hmph, there is definitely something wrong with this case. I heard that Taiyuan prefect Wei Keyong also came with us. He personally witnessed the tragic case of Jin merchant Wang Yongfa. I dare to invite the witness to come to the court."

Zheng Sanjun bowed to the emperor.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen glanced at Zhang Shikang, who shrugged indifferently. Emperor Chongzhen then ordered Wang Chengen to summon the prefect of Taiyuan.

Although Lu Xiangsheng and his companions did not mention the Taiyuan prefect in their letters to him, Zhang Shikang believed that they would never make such a low-level mistake.

You want witnesses, then I'll give you witnesses. The contestants and referees are all on my side. What do you have to win?

Soon, Taiyuan prefect Wei Keyong was brought to the court. At this time, Wei Keyong had long lost the style of the Taiyuan prefect.

Although he was still wearing his official uniform, his dishevelled hair and dirty face made him look particularly miserable. Under the gaze of all the civil and military officials in the court, he seemed extremely frightened.

“Sir Wei, you don’t have to be afraid, just tell His Majesty the truth of what happened.

But if you have any grievances, we and Your Majesty will stand up for you!"

……