Chapter 62: Atoning for sins
Wu Yan hesitated and refused to speak. Chen Xiaomu glanced at him, turned around and left. Wu Yan gritted his teeth and shouted: "General, go slowly, I will tell you this secret now!"
Chen Xiaomu turned around and stared at him, and said word by word: "It's only three things. This is the second time. If you don't say it this time, you will never have the chance to say it again!"
Wu Yan nodded, "General, I have one more thing to ask of you. I wonder if the general will let me say it?"
''As long as I'm not asking for your life, it doesn't matter!" Chen Xiaomu set a precondition while agreeing to Wu Yan.
Wu Yan smiled bitterly, "According to the charges the general has given me, Wu Yanji has no extravagant hope of walking out of Xinjing alive. What I ask for is that the general can safely send my home in Xinjing out of the territory of Zheng before I die.
Let them return to Chu safely!"
"Well, this is not an excessive request, it is human nature. I agree to you." Chen Xiaomu happily agreed to Wu Yan's request.
Wu Yan quickly knelt down on the hay and kowtowed to Chen Xiaomu, "Thank you, general, for fulfilling Wu Yan's last wish before his death. I would like to ask the general to pay attention and Wu Yan will tell you this secret!"
After walking out of Wu Yan's cell, Chen Xiaomu came to Zhang Yong's cell next door. Zhang Yong was lying on the bed made of blue bricks and dozing off. He had not slept all night last night, and he had suffered a lot in the morning.
He was frightened and aged, so now he looked old and exhausted. When he heard the door knock, he thought it was the jailer bringing food. He didn't even open his eyes and wanted to turn over, face inward, with his back facing the cell door.
, but he could not turn over after moving for a long time, because the heavy shackles on his body restricted his ability to move.
Chen Xiaomu walked up to him and said with a smile: "Zhifu Zhang is really like a general. Mount Tai collapsed before his eyes and his appearance remained unchanged!"
Zhang Yong was shocked when he heard this. He opened his eyes and saw Chen Xiaomu standing in front of him with a smile, staring at him. He quickly sat up on the bed and rubbed his eyes. After seeing clearly that it was indeed the young man who talked to him in the morning, he hurriedly
To get off the blue brick bed and kneel down to kowtow, to be honest, what bothers Chen Xiaomu the most and what he fears the most is the way the ancients did it. Although Zhang Yong is guilty of a serious crime, he is still so old after all. If he is the same as him in future generations,
Grandpa is almost old and can't bear the burden. Of course, he doesn't know what those turtle-son emperors who claim to be the emperor think. He is young, but he has a bunch of ministers kneeling down to him and standing there talking nicely.
Isn't it bad?
At that moment, Chen Xiaomu quickly stretched out his hand to support Zhang Yong, preventing him from kneeling down and worshiping him. This action was not very tight, but it made Zhang Yong feel infinite hope in his heart, but he did not dare to show off the prefect's airs that morning.
Zhang Yong raised his sleeves and wiped his eyes, and said to Chen Xiaomu with a sad face: "Master, I have no choice but to become the prefect of this Chu country. Otherwise, the lives of my whole family will be in danger!"
Chen Xiaomu stared at him and suddenly asked, "Zhifu Zhang, do you know Zhang Tong?"
Zhang Yongwen was shocked when he heard this. He looked up at Chen Xiaomu. A cunning look flashed in his cloudy eyes. When he saw Chen Xiaomu staring at him, he hurriedly lowered his head again. After a long time, he muttered from his mouth, "That's the old man who has been separated for many years."
Son, I wonder how he is doing now?"
"Oh, because he had an affair with the Chu State, when the Chu army besieged the new capital, he colluded with the Chu army to secretly open the city gate and lure the Chu army into the city. We arrested him!" Chen Xiaomu said while observing Zhang Yong's reaction.
"This beast, who has not been with me for many years, has now done something so outrageous and traitorous to the enemy and the country. Since you have caught him, you must punish him severely!" Zhang Yong cursed through gritted teeth.
Zhang Yong's pretentiousness made Chen Xiaomu both funny and disgusting. He continued: "I wonder if Magistrate Zhang knows Miss Xiaohuan. She told me a lot of things before I came here!"
Zhang Yong was startled and couldn't help but secretly complain that he didn't kill the little maid first. He rolled his eyes and said immediately: "Of course I know her. She is a little maid in my house! But this little maid is a brat.
Da, she stole money from my house several times, because I thought she was too young and couldn't bear to punish her, so I scolded her and ended the matter!"
"What about Cheng Yuemei?" Chen Xiaomu continued to press forward step by step.
Zhang Yong coughed twice and smiled reluctantly: "This is my old wife of many years, how could I not recognize her!" Although he pretended to be nonchalant, Zhang Yong was still nervous in his heart. Could it be that this bitch is here?
Did this bastard say something he shouldn't have said in front of him? Having been with Cheng Yuemei for so many years, this bitch knows that he has done too many bad things, and none of these things can be shown openly in front of others.
Chen Xiaomu stretched out his thumb and waved it in front of Zhang Yong, "Zhang Zhifu, you are awesome. You talk nonsense without changing your face or beating your heart!"
Zhang Yong felt guilty and laughed twice, "What did the military master say? I, oh, no, I have never told a lie in my many years as an official, but this military master!" Zhang Yong suddenly changed the topic.
He said: "I see that you are just about to get married, and I can't bear to delay your marriage because of the war in the country. I have a concubine named Zhou Huiniang. Although she doesn't have the appearance of a moon-shying flower, she is so beautiful.
One is called Shui Ling. A few days ago, Wu Yan, the Chu army guard in Xinjing City, and I used the knife. I was not willing to give it to him. Why don't I give her to you now? To put it bluntly, even if the military master in the future
If something unexpected happens while fighting in the army, I can leave you a son and a half!"
"Oh, are you talking about Zhou Huiniang?" Chen Xiaomu seemed to suddenly remember, patted his forehead with his hand, turned back to the door and greeted loudly: "Huiniang, come here, the prefect said this is to protect you from being
Wu Yan snatched it away, and both Wu Yan and Wu Yan had a knife, is this the case?"
Zhou Huiniang appeared in front of Zhang Yong as quietly as a cat and looked at him coldly.
Zhang Yong was startled, with an embarrassed look on his face. He didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. Because Zhou Huiniang and Ximen Ruoen didn’t come out of the inn room in the morning, Zhang Yong didn’t see her and thought she went to the inn last night.
, seeing that something was not going well, he ran away. Unexpectedly, he was standing in front of him now.
Seeing Zhang Yong standing there silently, Chen Xiaomu smiled and said: "Zhang Zhifu, I really don't know if you are old and confused? Or do you think we soldiers are easy to fool? Wu Yan is right next door to you, and you saw it too.
, but you dare to say that you used the knife to protect Zhou Huiniang and him, not to mention that you, a civil servant, dared to use the knife with the military attaché, how did you two use the knife, and who hurt whom in the end? "
"Haha, that's all I said, Master Jun, you take it seriously!" Zhang Yongpi said with a smile.
Chen Xiaomu shook his head, "No, you are not telling the truth when you use the knife, but you used the knife on Zhou Huiniang, right?" Chen Xiaomu stared at Zhang Yong with a cold light in his eyes.
"'Absolutely not, Huiniang is my concubine, how could I be willing to use a knife on her!" Zhang Yong waved his hands repeatedly and winked at Zhou Huiniang.
"'Then what happened to the knife wound on Zhou Huiniang's face? You wouldn't say that she inflicted it on her own?" Chen Xiaomu asked Zhang Yong, pointing to the knife wound on Zhou Huiniang's face who was standing next to him.
Zhang Yong really couldn't make it up anymore, so he could only shake his head and said, "I don't know where Hui Niang got the knife wound on her face!"
"Then I'll let Zhou Huiniang tell herself, who scratched her face with a knife?" Chen Xiaomu stared at Zhang Yong and asked.
"I rowed it!" Zhang Yong sighed and said helplessly.
"When Zhang Tong came back that night, who asked Xiaohuan to accompany him?" Chen Xiaomu suddenly asked.
"It's me too!" Zhang Yong said casually, but he immediately woke up and pretended to be a fool and said: "Master Jun, Zhang Tong and I have been separated for many years, and I have never seen him in these years!"
"Haha, do you believe it yourself? Do you want me to bring the servant who opened the door for Zhang Tong that night to confront you?" Chen Xiaomu's face was as cold as a piece of iron at this time.
"Okay, I admit, Zhang Tong did come back once before." Zhang Yong admitted feebly like a deflated ball.
"You have been an official for many years and you have never told a lie. Let me ask you, since I came in until now, are your words true?" Chen Xiaomu asked Zhang Yong.
Zhang Yong was stunned there, unable to say a word.
Chen Xiaomu continued: "There is an old saying that if you don't want others to know, you have to do nothing but yourself. I wonder if you have heard of it. You have done so many bad things and still look sanctimonious. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"
"I have done some despicable things, but I am not worthy of death, right?" After a long silence, Zhang Yong began to struggle to his death.
"Well, let's not say that you surrendered to the enemy and betrayed the country, and we don't say that you let Zhang Tong secretly open the city gate to let the enemy enter the city. These two heinous crimes, I will put you in the prefect prison later and put you in jail after you became the prefect.
How about you release those people you arrested and I'll hand you over to them?"
"Military Lord, spare your life!" Hearing that Chen Xiaomu was going to hand him over to the gang he had brought in to deal with him, Zhang Yong couldn't hold on any longer. He jumped off the brick bed and knelt down in front of Chen Xiaomu.
It is estimated that if Chen Xiaomu really wanted to hand him over to the people in the prison, they would tear him into pieces without even taking a moment.
"Well, if you don't want me to hand you over to those people, tell me how you colluded with the Chu army to let Zhang Tong secretly open the city gate and let the Chu army enter the city, and how you colluded with the Chu army to massacre the people of the new capital and rob them.
Write down everything about people's money for me. If I omit anything, I won't spare you.
Chen Xiaomu asked Li Gui to find pens, inks, paper and inkstones, and placed them on the bed made of blue bricks for Zhang Yong to write down his crimes.
Zhang Yong held the writing brush in his hand and began to hesitate again. You must know that any one of these two charges is enough to punish his nine tribes. If you write, you will die, if you don't write, you will die. Zhang Yong is now filled with worry and can't make up his mind.
, I thought about it and weighed the pros and cons in my mind. If I wrote it, I might not only die, but also everyone in my family would be killed. If I didn’t write it, at most I would be killed. Although the way of death is very painful, I thought about it for a long time, in order to
For posterity, he still put down his pen and decided not to write.
Chen Xiaomu had long seen through his little thoughts. When he saw him put down his pen, he immediately asked Li Gui to take away the pen, ink, paper and inkstone. He looked at him coldly and said, "You think that if you don't write, your descendants will not be killed."
Is it a disaster? Weren't they all arrested with you this morning? I will have them escorted in and locked up with you now, and then let those who were arrested by you take revenge and redress the injustice.
, what do you think you should do?" After saying that, he turned around and walked out.
Chen Xiaomu's words frightened Zhang Yong directly. Think about what a tragic scene it was. More than ten people from his family were surrounded by thousands of people and beaten in this place. Everyone's body was beaten to pieces.
Zhang Yong regretted it. When he saw Chen Xiaomu walking to the door, he hurriedly shouted, "Master, please go slowly. I am willing to follow your order and write down the charges!"
Chen Xiaomu turned around at the door, glanced at him, and said, "It's only three things. This is your last chance. You have to think about it!"
Zhang Yong nodded repeatedly, "Master Jun, I have thought about it. I will definitely write down all my crimes, but, just..." Zhang Yongsheng was afraid that Chen Xiao would throw away his sleeves in anger, and he hesitated to say anything, but wanted to say
He didn't dare to say anything.
"Stop hesitating, say what you have to say!" Chen Xiaomu looked helplessly at Zhang Yong, whose face was flushed with pain.
"Master Jun, I want to atone for my sins!" Zhang Yong accompanied him with a smile that was uglier than crying.
Chen Xiaomu felt funny, so he went down the mountain with Wu Yan, the master next door, and said, "Tell me what merit you want to accomplish and what sin you want to atone for.
Chapter completed!