In a small dark room surrounded by sandalwood.

"Oh... There was such a big deal in this harem, and Your Majesty didn't even look for us. It seems that Your Majesty is suspicious of us!"

Zhang Cheng sighed sadly.

Zhang Jing, who was sitting aside, glanced at Zhang Cheng slightly, didn't he know that Zhang Cheng was testing him, and said with a slight smile: "I guess the inner minister has known this long ago."

You know what you mean, why don’t you doubt yourself?

Zhang Cheng smiled and said, "But it's not like the governor!"

As two eunuchs in the palace, Zhang Cheng had a huge power. Nothing happened in the palace could escape their ears. In fact, they had already learned the news when Princess Yongning fell into the river.

It's just that they pretended not to know.

Zhang Jing said again: "In this way, does the inner minister think that I spread the news?"

Zhang Cheng hurriedly said: "The world can be seen, but our family really doesn't think so."

After a pause, he said again: "Although our family also knows that the governor has always been in a quarrel with Guo Dan, the governor has not risked offending the empress dowager for his sake, Guo Dan. But our family wants to ask the governor, can the governor know who did this matter?"

Zhang Jing smiled and said, "It was Guo Dan's work."

Zhang Cheng couldn't help but be shocked and said, "What do you say about the governor?"

Zhang Jing said: "If Guo Dan hadn't offended so many relatives and powerful people, this incident would have never happened."

Zhang Cheng frowned and said, "In other words, the governor cannot find out who is the real mastermind behind the scenes?"

Zhang Jing said: "It's not that I can't find it, but that the people involved in this matter are all people around the Queen Mother. I didn't know at that time whether there were monks who saw it in the past. How do you ask me to check it?"

After this incident, Empress Dowager Li asked to keep it confidential.

Then the insiders were all eunuchs, palace maids, and imperial guards around Empress Dowager Li, all of them were the confidants of the empress dowager. If the Dongchang wanted to investigate, the basic routine was to arrest them all and then investigate them one by one. He did not dare to capture all the confidants around Empress Dowager.

But if this happens in the palace, there is still a way to investigate, after all, the palace is completely closed.

But the problem is that this happened not in the palace, but in Jingxin Temple, and within the scope of the Royal Horse Farm. There are many idle people here, and these people must have contact with the outside world. It is very likely that a monk passing by saw it at that time, or it may have been seen by people from the Royal Horse Farm.

If it weren't for the Queen Mother's people who leaked it, Dongchang beat all the people around Queen Mother Li again. How could I explain this to Queen Mother Li?

Zhang Cheng sighed and said, "This is really difficult to check!"

Zhang Jing said: "Don't worry about it. Anyway, according to this situation, Your Majesty will not ask us to investigate. Let's take care of ourselves first."

......

"Your Majesty has rushed to Jingxin Temple right away. It seems that some unknown things have indeed happened in it." Xu Guo said with a serious expression.

"It's really the tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop!"

Shen Shixing closed his eyes and sighed.

After finally helping Wanli cheered up and focused on governing the country. It seemed that everything was back on track, but this happened again, which made him very depressed!

Wang Xijue said: "I believe that no matter how cunning Guo Dan is, he will not do such a thing. This is clearly because someone slandered Guo Dan and wanted to take the opportunity to kill Guo Dan."

"It's a pity that it's too late now. This matter has spread here. I don't think it will be known to everyone in the future." Shen Shixing sighed with a sad face: "In this way, everything is full of variables."

......

Anything related to ethics is very troublesome, especially this is also related to the royal family.

If this matter is not handled properly, the royal family will be ridiculed by everyone in the world.

Scholars all over the world will also attack them.

Because in the face of ethics, there is no right or wrong, only the saints.

For example, in political struggles, there are supporters and opponents. Everyone can show their own abilities and form cliques, but no one dares to speak nonsense about ethics. This is faith and cannot be touched.

......

Wanli and Empress Dowager Li knew this better than them. Now that the matter has not been determined, no one can believe that the mother and son are, and even the eunuchs around them dare not use it.

And this is the sequelae of tariffs.

This is why many wise monarchs, even those talented emperors, dare not take heavy measures against interest groups, because interest groups penetrate all aspects and you cannot know all the enemies.

Their usual method is to fight one faction, change the soup and not change the medicine. In fact, Wanli also fight one faction.

He first stabilized the cabinet, otherwise he would not dare to move. But the problem was that the cabinet had not been good. Wanli used the cabinet to support Guo Dan, a non-traditional interest group, to win people, which would definitely attract the attention of traditional interest groups.

The only thing Wanli and Empress Dowager Li can rely on now is Guo Dan and Zhu Yiliu.

Needless to say, Zhu Yiliu is the biggest victim now.

Wanli is now even Zhang Cheng and Zhang Jing dare not use it because he is not sure that the two of them are innocent.

After all, the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty were extremely powerful, especially in the harem. Feng Bao dared to sell Princess Yongning and Empress Dowager Li's pearls as goods, and the palace maids dared to beat the princess to death.

It can be seen that in the Ming Dynasty, the royal family and eunuchs were not master-servant relationships. In fact, to this day, they have become an ally relationship, and eunuchs can also be attributed to interest groups.

There are many people who bully the royal family.

If this matter is not done well, the consequences may be much more serious than they imagined.

Wanli was also very nervous.

On the one hand, it is his sister, and on the other hand, it is Guo Dan. Now many of his interests are bound to Guo Dan, and he does not want any party to lose.

Therefore, Wanli immediately summoned Guo Dan and Zhu Yili to Jingxin Temple to discuss countermeasures.

Guo Dan learned at this time that it was targeting him again. Princess Yongning was just a butcher knife targeting him. He was really galloping in his heart, but he couldn't blame Empress Li for not covering up the matter. At the same time, he felt that this was not a big deal, so he said: "According to his humble opinion, as long as he doesn't admit this matter, they can't come up with evidence to prove the rumors."

Empress Dowager Li smiled bitterly and said, "If you said it so simply, that would be great. I believe someone will sue you for bullying Princess Yongning soon, and they also know which palace maid was injured. At that time, your Majesty will have to send someone to investigate the matter. Once the case is filed, it will be difficult to explain."

Now this matter is spread from the palace. If eunuchs are sent to investigate, the news may spread every day, and maybe it will be faked and true.

If you want to investigate Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice will intervene. All interest groups will intervene. Such a good opportunity, if you don’t kill you, Guo Dan, are still waiting for the New Year!

The other party's move is very cheap, leaving everyone with a breakthrough. This is a crime, not only about ethics, you have to investigate. Empress Dowager Li and Wanli have been on the battlefield for a long time. They all know that once this investigation is investigated, it may really backfire.

Once the inner court cooperates with the foreign ministers, it will be very troublesome. The censors will not be afraid of so many things. Just shout loudly. If you kill, you can kill as much as you can, depending on how many you can kill.

Zhu Yiliu said anxiously: "Then let's tell the truth, the fact is that Guo Dan saved my sister."

Wanli frowned and said, "You are confused. Wouldn't that tell the world that Yongning knocked out the palace maid and then jumped into the river to commit suicide."

Empress Dowager Li also frowned.

This is what makes her the most troublesome thing. It is related to her daughter. She doesn't want to push Princess Yongning down, so she can't tell the truth, and if she tells it, it will also damage the royal reputation.

Guo Dan was always depressed because he had a clear conscience, but if you didn’t tell the truth, he would have a conscience. He felt that using one lie to cover up another lie, unless everyone in the world was stupid, it would only get worse and worse.

In fact, such things happened often in that capital society, and I should be able to think of solutions.

Guo Dan began to search for some cases similar to this in his mind.

After a while, he suddenly said, "Mrs. Queen Mother, have you ever thought about the princess?"

Wanli heard it inexplicably and said, "If this matter had not been implicated in the princess, I and the Queen Mother would not have had such a headache."

Guo Dan shook his head and said, "It's not just this matter, but the princess."

Empress Dowager Li said curiously: "What does this mean?"

Guo Dan said: "Why did the princess jump into the river and commit suicide? Who caused this tragedy?"

Wanli immediately said: "You mean Zhang Juzheng?"

Guo Dan shook his head and said, "In fact, human disasters are inevitable. There are always bad people in this world, but Hu Zhi believes that the tragedy that really causes the princess is precisely public opinion, and the so-called ethics.

I believe that even if Confucius is here, he will sympathize with the princess. The princess is innocent and she is harmed by others, but now she wants her to take on all this. Today, it is a humble position that happened to save the princess, but the princess obviously has the intention to seek death. Next time, next time?

The tragedy may happen again.”

Empress Dowager Li seemed to understand and asked, "What exactly do you want to say?"

Guo Tan said: "The meaning of Beizhi is that the princess is innocent and the princess is the victim. So why do you make the princess all this? Beizhi feels that the Queen Mother and Your Majesty have the responsibility to avenge the princess and let the princess be liberated."

Empress Dowager Li and Wanli looked at each other.

Now the culprit is dead.

Guo Dan continued to say: "I believe that hiding things will only make things more complicated. Instead of doing so, it is better to speak out loud, express the grievances of the royal family, and express the tragic ethics."

Empress Dowager Li said: "This is not possible. Do you know the consequences of doing this?"

Regarding ethics, have you taken the courage of the bear heart and leopard?

Guo Tan said: "But I know that everyone feels compassionate, there will be many people who will sympathize with the princess, and there will be people who will reflect on it. Only by doing this can we truly remove the shackles on the princess."

Wanli's eyes suddenly flashed and he asked, "Guo Dan, are you sure?"

Empress Dowager Li glanced at Wanli a little, but didn't say anything.

Guo Dan said: "Your Majesty, you are seven-point sure of being a humble position and being able to reverse this matter, but the first is to act quickly. After all, people have preconceived ideas. Once the other party's public opinion arises first, our words will become an excuse, and we will be really powerless to turn things around.
Chapter completed!