The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 59: Ghost cries in the Mausoleum

Volume 5: The Case of the Ancient Coffin in Luo River 
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 59: Ghost cries in the Mausoleum

Henan was the birthplace of the Yin merchants, and was a place of great beauty and beauty from ancient times, but after Zhao Kuanggyin, the first emperor of the Song Dynasty, chose Kaifeng as his capital, Henan became the center of the world, and the seven emperors and eight mausoleums of the Northern Song Dynasty were all buried here.

However, as the Song Dynasty moved south, Henan gradually lost its former status, after the invasion of the Jin dynasty, it was the turn of the Mongolian cavalry to conquer the Central Plains, and the wheel of history rolled on, as the people of the Central Plains suffered battle after battle. It was more than a hundred years later when the first emperor of this dynasty won the world.

When Emperor Taizu was passing through Gongxian County, where the war had just subsided, he found that the majestic and solemn mausoleum of Emperor Song had already suffered devastation, almost all the buildings on the ground had been destroyed, and the barren fields were covered with broken stone carvings, whose original appearance could no longer be recognized, and the tombs of Northern Song dynasty Emperor Gaozong, Emperor Xiaozong and Emperor Huichin had been extensively excavated and destroyed with the connivance of the Yuan Dynasty, as far as the eye can see, the devastation is unbearable.

It is said that even the bones of several Northern Song emperors were dug up and burned, and numerous treasures were offered to Emperor Kublai Khan to decorate his temples.

In response to this, Emperor Taizu ordered that those tombs that had been dug and robbed be refilled, repaired and prohibited from being mined by the common people, and ordered the local government to arrange for the guards of the households, and to reduce or exempt those who guarded the tombs as appropriate. Taxation, this has curbed the trend of theft...

However, this was back in the days when Great Ming was founded, and the mausoleum was right there, and there were always people who were desperate to get rich, even the Qin imperial mausoleum, whose location was unknown, let alone the Song imperial mausoleum.

In particular, the mausoleum of the Northern Song dynasty was slightly different from that of the previous dynasty.

Before the Tang dynasty, many imperial tombs were buried underground without monuments, most notably the Qinhuang Mausoleum.

After the Han Dynasty, the mausoleum sorta tomb was gradually popular, and this method was formally established in the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Emperors basically dug out their own tombs in the mountains, and hid the tombs in the depths of the mountains, which on the one hand appeared bold, and on the other hand could minimize the visits of grave robbers. Of course, there are endless ways to grave robbery and the latter is basically useless.

Here in the Northern Song Dynasty, for the consideration of fengshui, the emperor's mausoleum was not dug into the deep mountains like the Tang emperor's mausoleum, but on the hills opposite Song Mountain, north of the Luo River, and not far from the Yellow River.

Plus, the tombs of the seven emperors before the Song Dynasty moved south were all located here, so it's easy for someone with evil intentions to steal them.

That's why even though there are people guarding the area, grave robberies still occur sporadically at the Song Tomb.

Except for the Yuan Dynasty, all the imperial courts that have gained the world have been more careful to protect the tombs of the former emperors, and this dynasty is no exception. The imperial court banned the burglary of the tomb, but the robbery still persisted, just not on the scale as in the past, so the local government found out and arrested people, but it did not get out of hand.

But recently, in Gongxian, where the Northern Song emperors' mausoleum is located, something very strange and horrifying has happened.

It is said that since a year ago, at night, the people in the area have been hearing strange noises coming from the Yonghou Mausoleum and the Yongzhao Mausoleum, which at first they thought were the wind, but when they listened more closely, they heard what sounded like crying.

The Yonghou Mausoleum is the tomb of Song Yingzong Emperor Zhao Shu, the Yongzhao Mausoleum is the tomb of Song Renzong Emperor Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Shu was Zhao Zhen's successor, but he was not Zhao Zhen's son, for all of Zhao Zhen's sons had died, and he had to be succeeded by someone from the clan.

But that's not important. The question is, how can there be crying at the tomb in the middle of the night?

The Song emperors have been dead for years, so there are no filial sons or grandsons, and even if there were, why would they choose to go there in the middle of the night to cry for their souls?

That's very odd.

After hearing cries for several nights, a few villagers went to the Yonghou Mausoleum to check on the tomb.

And then when they went away, and they never came back.

The village chief realized that there was something wrong, he mobilized the villagers to search for the missing people, and reported to the government of Gongxian, which sent people to search for them, but couldn't find them, and the emperor's mausoleum was built. On the edge of the Luo River, the government mansion speculated that these people might have accidentally fallen into the river while walking at night.

And when it's done, it's done and this matter could not be resolved.

For a long time after that, the sound of crying was not heard again, and the village seemed to be quiet again, except for the few families who had died, and everyone had gradually forgotten about it.

But half a year ago, that creepy cry appeared again, and it was even louder than before, and it was accompanied by the sound of thunder, so the village chief didn't dare to be careless and reported to the government, Gongxian County magistrate because of the last thing I felt that the village chief was making a big deal of it, but I didn't take it seriously, but because the emperor's mausoleum was still there, the county's arrester quickly brought a few people to the village to check the situation.

This search uncovered two or three caves near the Yonghou Mausoleum and the Yongzhao Mausoleum, and it seems that the tombs of the two emperors were visited by grave robbers who were interested in their tombs.

As the tomb was robbed, the magistrate of Gongxian didn't dare to be careless, so he ordered several constables and six villagers to squat near the tomb, hoping to catch the grave robbers.

The governor may be old, but as the head of the village, he is responsible for it, among other things.

The first day passed, the area around the tomb was quiet, the moonlight was like water, next to it was the sound of the Luo River flowing, other than that, there was nothing, everything was peaceful.

The next day passed, and so did the next.

On the third day, something went wrong.

Three constables, six villagers, plus the village chief, went with ten men.

But in the end, only two came back.

One is a constable, the other is a village chief.

One went crazy, the other's just went dumb.

It was the constable who went crazy, and he and the village chief, one after the other, ran back from the vicinity of the Tomb, disoriented, beating each other up, not to mention speaking clearly, while the village chief was terrified, covered in blood, and almost ready to go to the constable's company.

After the doctor's diagnosis, the constable had gone insane from shock, and would be like this for the rest of his life. The village chief was old and weak, but he had been through a lot, so he was more resilient than the young, so he took some time to recuperate, and slowly recovered.

But whenever the incident of that night was mentioned, the village headman kept silent until the county magistrate came to ask him, then he kept saying "ghost" and "monster" over and over again. " and so on. He couldn't explain why..

The magistrate had no choice, but to report the matter to the capital.

"Ghosts? Monsters?”

Inside the small courtyard, Tang Fan mulled over the words, asking, "Are the grave robbers playing spirits?”

Sui Zhou shook his head: "I just received this case, it's hard for the higher-ups to make a decision based on that magistrate's words alone, I need to see it for myself to know. This case is under the jurisdiction of Henan, it is expected that the Ministry of Justice will be issued by the cabinet to investigate, and then it may fall on Henan Province Justice Department.”

Tang Fan grinned and said: "That seems almost inevitable.”

He stretched his back again: "Well, I was born to be a cheapskate anyway, so I'm tired of sitting in the courthouse, so if I get the chance, I'd rather go for a walk!”

Sui Zhou chimed in, "I intend to go there myself.”

Tang Fan was flattered and said, "Is it possible that Ambassador Governor Sui wants to fight alongside me? That would be a great honor for this servant!”

Although Sui Zhou is only a real position in Qianhu Commander, but in fact he is already the boss of the Northern Administrative Court, and then there is Yuan Bin, in official circles, everyone is used to call it high, so already " "Governor Sui" "Governor Sui" shouted out.

Of course, when it comes to Tang Fan, it's all a bit of a joke.

Sui Zhou leaned on the back of the chair, took the buckwheat tea from A-Dong, and said leisurely: "It's not necessarily true that we should fight side by side, since it's the Province Governor's mission, naturally we need the Province Governor's four sides. Gotta follow my lead.”

It's certainly more of a joke than anything else.

Tang Fan laughed at the words: "Then I'll fight with you, you are a Fifth Rank martial rank, I am a Fifth Rank civil rank since the Great Ming has been in power, we have always been a civil commanding martial rank, according to Fifth Rank civil officers can command Fourth Rank martial generals! Even if Yuan-Laoda comes, he has to listen to my command, or I can't lift with my hands, I can't carry with my shoulders, what can I do there, I can't catch the vermin myself?”

He winked at A-Dong again.” You got that right, girl?”

A-Dong nodded: "Right.”

Tang Fan cocked his legs, and smugly said to Sui Zhou: "It's good to have a girl, look how sweet my A-Dong is!”

A-Dong: "I mean Brother Sui is right.”

Tang Fan was upset and said: "Why are you turning your arm outward and not siding with me your brother!”

A-Dong giggled and said: "Of course I have to and you have to go outside, big brother you now sent all the money to Big brother Sui's hands, if we don't have him, we both will have to go hungry!”

Tang Fan couldn't help but retort, "All of what! I just gave him half, and I'm giving you money for food every month!”

Sui Zhou: "So tell me how much money you have on hand right now?”

Seeing four pairs of eyes looking at him, Tang Fan blurted out, "A man's private money is a secret, you can't just ask!”

A-Dong asked Sui Zhou again: "Brother Sui, so how much money do you have now?”

Sui Zhou didn't say, "You can't just ask", and said frankly: "Last year, I saved 30 taels for him, together with the 350 taels that was given to me before, that's 380 taels in total, I also have some savings, the total is about 1,400 taels.”

A-Dong exclaimed repeatedly: "Brother Sui you are rich!”

Tang Fan couldn't help but protest: "There's another painting by Wang Ximeng in my room, it's worth much more than his 1,400 taels!”

One glance from A-Dong came as she said: "That was obviously left to you by your parents!”

Tang Fan snorted: "It's a beautiful day, that crystal dish has been lonely for a long time and is waiting for us to feast on it, talking about money is so vulgar, it smells of copper!”

A-Dong covered her mouth and laughed: "Obviously, you hid the writer fee under your pillow and didn't turn it in, I thought you'd be able to hide it for how long, but then you turned around and bought a bunch of free nonsensical books!”

Tang Fan's old face couldn't take it and said: “What do you mean, useless book, it's the Spring and Autumn Zuozhuan Justice, the Song edition book that no money can buy, it took me a long time to find it!”

A-Dong winked and said: “There's another book on spring tides.”

Sui Zhou frowned and said: “Why does the name sound weird?”

Tang Fan was a little guilty and said: “That's serious demon shifting, don't think the wrong way!”

It's okay if he doesn't say anything, but the more he describes it, the darker it gets.

Sui Zhou said: “Bring it back to me later.”

A-Dong made a face at Tang Fan and said: “I want to see it too!”

ached and said: “You haven't even returned my copy of the War Journal since you took it last!”

Although he writes books in his spare time for fun and to get some money for his writing, it is not fair to say that all he writes are just books of romance, like Warring States, which is a historical narrative set in the Eastern Zhou Warring States period.

Sui Zhou said innocently and said: “I haven't finished reading it yet, I'll give it back to you when I'm done.”

Tang Fan and said: “When did you finish reading it?”

Sui Zhou said: “Just wait until you promise not to sneak away with the lube fee next time.”

Tang Daren's evil intensified, protesting and complaining about the unequal system and said: “Then you didn't give me the money!”

Sui Zhou put an end to all controversy with one sentence and said: “But I don't have a problem with spending money.”

Tang Fan and said: “...”

With a clang, his pride was shattered.

These days, the bigger the official, the lower the status in the family.

He wants to go running away from home.....

Seeing how his ears seemed to droop, Governor Sui stroked his friend's head with rare affection and said: “I'm not greedy for your money, I'm just keeping it safe for you, and you're always so excited about books that the library is overflowing. I don't want your money, I'm just keeping it for you.”

Tang Daren looked like a man in tears.

Words in two places, as Sui Zhou expected, this case was presented to the Cabinet side, and was transferred to the Emperor there, it turned out that even the lazy Chenghua Emperor who never want to take charge of the government charge of affairs was alarmed, he not only conveyed to the Cabinet of his own importance of the intention, but also asked the Cabinet to send someone to join the Jinyiwei together to investigate, be sure to investigate this case. If it's true that tomb robbers were digging up the tomb, they should be arrested and punished.

Did the Son of God, once enlightened, get upset over the death of 14 men?

Of course not, because we're all emperors, and when the mausoleum was stolen, the emperor thought about his own death, and if he didn't do anything, what if he was dug up after he died, what would happen, so of course we had to investigate.

The cabinet made up its mind, and sent the matter to the Ministry of Justice, because, after all, the grave robbery was still the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice.

Of course, as the leader of the Henan Province Justice Department, Tang Fan is responsible for this.

Minister Zhang called Tang Fan over and told him to take his men and go personally, along with the Jinyiwei's men, to investigate the case.

Since the last time when Tang Fan confronted Deputy Minister Liang, Minister Zhang has become more agreeable to him for some reason, and he doesn't hesitate to express his admiration to Tang Fan in public. Deputy Minister Liang couldn't stand it, so he used himself as a gun to go against Deputy Minister Liang, but Tang Fan didn't get anything for himself, at least he convinced the Henan Province Justice Department.

No matter what, his relationship with Zhang Ying is a win-win situation. Of course, if Zhang Ying, the First Class Minister, wants to ask Tang Fan to do something, Tang Fan has no excuse.

Zhang Ying called Tang Fan into his room, and asked him how he was doing, if he had any problems at work, and if he had any problems, just tell us.

After a few words, Zhang Ying got to the point and said: “Did you know about the theft of the Song Emperor's mausoleum?”

Tang Fan nodded and said: “Official documents have been sent to the Henan Province Justice Department, I have read the file.”

Zhang Ying asked: “And what do you think about that?”

Tang Fan said: “With all due respect to this servant, it's a bit tricky.”

Zhang Ying sighed slightly and said: “Yes, those villagers and the government constable, not necessarily may not have fell into the river to die, and may not really be haunted, but since the other side can kill more than a dozen people, if it is man-made, must be extremely vicious, this case is really difficult to solve. However,”

He paused and said: “No matter how difficult it is, you must do your best, and if this case is solved, I will report to the Council of Elders and give you credit.”

Tang Fan quickly said: “I will do my best, I dare not claim credit!”

Zhang Ying suddenly asked and said: “I heard that you guys have dubbed me and the other five Ministers as Clay Figurine Ministers behind my back, right or wrong?”

Tang Fan made a startled gesture and said: “Where did that come from, but I've never heard of it!”

Zhang Ying smiled slightly and said: “You don't have to play dumb, I'm not blaming you, I just want to hear the truth.”

Tang Fan said: “Other people do not know, but in the third year of Chenghua, you as the Right Deputy Imperial Censor, it was with your advocacy and presidency, Ningxia city was changed from mud to brick and stone construction, and later you personally manage the river, the Yellow River water. If you were a clay figurine waiting to collect salary while doing nothing, there would be few ministers in the court who could do anything!”

Yes, Zhang Ying is one of the clay figurine ministers, but he didn't start out that way, he was once full of enthusiasm, serving the country, benefiting the people, he also had a lot of political achievements, self-proclaimed able ministers, many people see Minister Zhang who is now drinking tea, and they think he has always been drinking tea to get by.

If Tang Fan hadn't seen Zhang Ying's resume from Sui Zhou, he wouldn't have known that Minister Zhang, once had such a capable and ambitious side.

Sure enough, Zhang Ying looked touched.” How do you know all this?”

Tang Fan smiled and said: “Your teacher, Qiu Jun, has praised Minister Zhang as a capable and competent official many times in front of your servant, and after hearing that your servant has come to the Ministry of Justice, he wrote a letter to ask I learn more from you!”

Of course, Tang Fan is just trying to put gold on his teacher's face and give Zhang Ying a reasonable explanation, he can't say I read your resume at the Jinyiwei, right?

Zhang Ying was touched and ashamed and said: “I never thought Qiu Qingshan would have such an opinion of me, but now that Lian Po is old, I am not the same person I used to be!”

Tang Fan earnestly said: “Whether to destroy reputation or not is not up to the people of time, after a hundred years, the history books will definitely give the Ministry a fair evaluation!”

Zhang Ying has been in the bureaucracy for a long time, he wasn't a man who was easily moved, but Tang Fan's words today spoke to his heart. . Now everyone avoids misfortune and has to live by. The longer his official has done, the more he has seen, the more he has experienced. The more disheartened, simply buried all the blood in the past, and also learned to do the right thing as others did, and walked the bird.

As a result, others will lumped together him and Yin Qian. Liu Zhao and other mediocre people, made a "Six Clay Figurine Ministers" nickname to tease him, after hearing about it for long, Zhang Ying also became numbed.

I can't believe that today, it was a little Ministry Director who revealed his deep-seated grievances and frustrations, how could Zhang Ying not be touched?

With this, the two of them got closer.

Zhang Ying addressed Tang Fan directly and said: “Runqing, don't look at this case as a difficult one, but it has already been marked in front of His Majesty, so if it is done well, it will be of great benefit to your career.”

Apparently, Minister Zhang now considers Tang Fan to be half "one of us", otherwise he would not have mentioned him so much.

It's not just that Tang Fan has just opened up his heart, it's that Tang Fan has no roots in the Ministry of Justice and has fallen out with Deputy Minister Liang before, so the only person he can rely on is Zhang Ying.

Zhang Ying was naturally interested in grooming this intelligent young official who knew how to move forward and quit.

Tang Fan really understood and thanked him solemnly, "Thank you for your advice, I'll do my best to investigate this case!”

Zhang Ying nodded with satisfaction and said: “The only inconvenience is to work with the Jinyiwei on the case, I heard that this time the Northern Administrative Court the Province Governor ambassador also want to personally go, the cabinet means, is to let you for the First, he is the deputy, both of you are the Imperial Envoy. the Jinyiwei has always been special, may not be willing to follow your arrangements, but since you were able to ask the Jinyiwei to help you investigate the case handled by Yin Yuanhua last time, it seems that you two have some friendship, I do not need to worry about you.”

Tang Fan was embarrassed and said: “Last time it was all my rashness, and I've caused trouble to the Minister, please forgive me.”

Zhang Ying smiled and said: “Liang Wenhua is always arrogant, thinking that the Ministry of Justice is under his rule, it's time for someone to rain on his parade, but after all, there is a difference between you that is superiors and subordinates, when you face him, you should be more respectful, don't let people catch a mistake you make that they can use to suppress you..”

Naturally, Tang Fan will learn from him.

This matter should be done sooner rather than later, it should be done sooner rather than slower, hand over the job to Dai Hongming, let him take over the charge of Henan Province Justice Department during this period, and leave him with two other Secretaries for his dispatch, he will take Yin Yuanhua and Cheng Wen. The Jinyiwei men were sent to Henan.

According to the rule, Yin Yuanhua is not required to accompany us, as Tang Fan's Deputy, he should be in charge of Henan Province Justice Department when Tang Fan is not here, but he doesn't know what's wrong with him, he volunteered to go with Tang Fan. Deputy Minister Liang also said that the case was so serious that the chief and deputy chief of the Henan Province Justice Department should go there at the same time to show their importance.

In this way, Dai Hongming was able to take over the role of Officer as the head of the Henan Province Justice Department.

At the end of May, the group left the capital and went to Gongxian in Henan Prefecture.

The author has something to say and said

In the pre-modern Ming dynasty, there was a remarkable feature in the officialdom, although there were some rivalries, but for the real talent of the younger generation, many former officials would protect them appropriately, not for any benefitof their own, but in the hope that they would become the pillars of the state and help the emperor, this is something which was not seen in the later officialdom, but also a stream of clean water has no fish and if there is no corruption there are no good officials.

The most famous example is Zhang Juzheng, when we look at his resume, we can see that at that time, many people were amazed by his talent, they thought that he would be a pillar of the future, on his way to promotion, later facts also proved that Zhang Juzheng did live up to these people's high expectations, he did save the Ming Dynasty, and became a meritorious minister of the Ming Dynasty.  More in Zhang Junzheng https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Juzheng

- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -

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