Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 50: Power is attractive, Lu Fang saves himself!
Fu Si of Beizhen was imprisoned.

Known as the number one prison in the world!
The four stone walls, the stone ground and the stone slabs on the top are all paved with the same granite.

The prison is ten feet deep and never sees sunlight all year round. Even in a dry city like the capital, it is often damp. Even if people are not tortured, they will inevitably become weak and suffer from various diseases after a long time of being locked up there.

With lanterns in hand, Yang Jinshui was led down the stone steps of the Imperial Prison by people from the Ministry of Justice as they watched. The stone path inside was deep and dark, with only the dim light of the oil lamps on the wall.

Yang Jinshui's face was even gloomier than this dark prison at this moment. After turning one stone path and then another, his face became more and more gloomy.

There is a saying in Buddhism: "The distant is the cause, the near is the reason."

Yang Jinshui and the Embroidered Uniform Guard had both distant and recent connections. The reason why Yang Jinshui went to the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau was that he made a mistake when competing for the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, which forced Lu Fang to let Yang Jinshui go to Zhejiang for refuge.

If Yang Jinshui had taken the position of chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department at that time, the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot would both be under the jurisdiction of Yang Jinshui.

But there are no ifs in this world. Yang Jinshui has been away from the capital, and all these years have been peaceful. Unexpectedly, a thunder exploded overnight, and the emperor was furious!
The first person to be implicated was his former superior, Lu Fang.

The chief eunuch and the jailer of the Embroidered Uniform Guard finally led Yang Jinshui to a very secluded cell door and stopped him.

There was no lantern in the prison. The light from the lantern outside the prison door shone in, and one could only vaguely see that Lu Fang was still wearing shackles and handcuffs, sitting on the scattered straw on the ground with his eyes closed.

The cell door opened, and Yang Jinshui just walked in when he heard the cell door behind him slam shut. Lu Fang opened his eyes suddenly, with a complicated look in his eyes.

This was his favorite adopted son back then.

"Godfather!" Yang Jinshui called out to him affectionately while the man was still at the prison gate. He took two steps at a time to reach Lu Fang, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed three times in a proper manner.

Even though he was in a dark prison, Lu Fang's voice was still very calm, "Get up."

Yang Jinshui climbed up, poured a cup of tea from the only table in the cell, then held it up with both hands and handed it to Lu Fang. There was an inquiring look in his eyes, as if he was waiting for trial.

Lu Fang looked at him quietly, but after a while, Yang Jinshui's hand holding the tea bowl began to tremble slightly.

Lu Fang had been in charge of the inner court for decades, and his temperament and habits were already known to all the eunuchs. When dealing with eunuchs from other places who came to the capital, they could usually tell his kindness and power by offering him a bowl of tea.

If Lu Fang takes the tea and drinks it when it is handed over, then everything will be safe and sound.

If Lu Fangshang offered him tea and drank it, it would be even more extraordinary, as it would be a courtesy that truly treated him as his own son.

But if he didn't drink, he would have to wait for his fate. Demotion, imprisonment, execution, these few words kept running through Yang Jinshui's mind.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?" Lu Fang finally spoke.

During the hundred years when the Imperial Guard was under the jurisdiction of the eunuchs, Lu Fang rarely made things difficult for the Imperial Guard.

Therefore, after Lu Fang entered the imperial prison, the Jinyiwei from top to bottom did not make things difficult for him. They only interrogated him twice as a routine matter and did not use any torture.

During the interrogation, the jailer saw that Lu Fang knew nothing about anything and even told him the reason for the emperor's anger.

Xin'an River broke its dikes in nine counties!
The Xin'an River was under the supervision of the River Administration Office, which in turn was under the supervision of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau.

Last year, the Xin'an River, which was built with two million taels of silver and hundreds of thousands of Jiangnan laborers, could have such a huge mistake. Even if we don't investigate, the corruption of the Ministry of Works, the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau, and the Zhejiang River Administration is shocking just to imagine.

What disappointed Lu Fang even more was that in this large-scale corruption, Yang Jinshui actually had business dealings with Yan Shifan's Ministry of Works.

Lu Fang knew that Yang Jinshui was a restless person. When he was in the inner palace, he mixed with people from the previous dynasty, intervened in the factional disputes in the court, colluded with Yan Song, and was almost killed by Xia Yan's counterattack before his death.

But because Yang Jinshui was hated by the emperor, Lu Fang sent him to Zhejiang. Before Yang Jinshui left Beijing, Lu Fang repeatedly warned him that eunuchs should not have any contact with officials from other local yamen, let alone any interest exchanges.

Unexpectedly, Yang Jinshui turned a deaf ear to all these words, and continued to collude with the Yan family, and even established close ties with local officials in Zhejiang. No matter how smart a person is, he cannot resist the impact of the word "power".

After many years of father-son relationship, Lu Fang hoped that Yang Jinshui could confess everything here without reservation, because someone would hear it!

If the emperor shows leniency, perhaps there is a chance for them and their son to survive.

Yang Jinshui was so frightened that his hand shook and the bowl of tea fell to the ground: "Godfather... these years... you have aged again."

Having said this, Yang Jinshui couldn't continue and actually started crying.

By now, he had no way to tell the truth to his godfather. Although he had failed to destroy the dikes and flood the fields in the nine counties of Xin'an River, it was still a serious sin.

If I confess, there will be no way to survive.

What we hope for is that everyone can survive this disaster and get out again one day.

"You hid everything from me, and when the Emperor asked me, I didn't know how to answer. You, you..." Lu Fang shook his head and sighed.

People cannot escape the saying "You reap what you sow". After accompanying the emperor for decades, there is a high probability that his life will be lost at the hands of this group of godsons.

Bring up children for the purpose of being looked after in old age.

If you don’t have old age, you won’t need to take care of it anymore.

These godsons are so filial.

Yang Jinshui wiped away his tears and said, "Godfather, this is all my fault. Your Majesty wants to kill me or chop me up, I will bear the consequences. I will not let you down!"

Lu Fang smiled. If there was no implicate, how could he, an old ancestor of the inner court, appear in this dark prison?
When people start to do bad things, they won't say anything. They always say things like "this is for your own good" and "I won't let you get involved". Even if the truth is right in front of them, they won't turn around until a knife is placed on their necks.

There was no point in continuing, so Lu Fang simply closed his eyes again.

In the dark room.

Jinyiwei Commander Lu Bing listened to the conversation between Lu Fang and Yang Jinshui, glanced at the clerk who took detailed notes, and ordered: "Compile it into a book. I want to go to the palace to see the emperor."

Say it.

Lu Bingru walked out like a ghost, closed the side door, and left the clerk inside to continue recording the movements in the cell.

……

Ok Hee Palace.

Bright lights.

Zhu Houcong put down the book, walked to the window, and listened to Lu Bing's report, "Your Majesty, the search of the Yan Mansion has been completed, and no letters related to the Xin'an River flood have been found. Only some letters from the civil and military officials of the court flattering the Minister Yan and the Junior Minister Yan were found.

The same was true of the residence of Minister Xu Jie. There was no mention of Zhejiang in the correspondence with Chaotian Temple.

During the search of Eunuch Lu's private residence, letters were indeed found with Yang Jinshui, but there was no connection with Xin'an Jiangshui at all. Even Yang Jinshui's filial piety was not accepted by Eunuch Lu.

However, in that private residence, the Imperial Guards found a large number of account books and evidence of corruption by officials in the two capitals and thirteen provinces..."

(End of this chapter)