In front of the steps of the government office, a clerk looked over for a while and then walked quickly towards Pei Mian.
"Censor Pei, where have you been? My consort has been waiting for you for a long time."
"Which consort?"
"Princess Xianyi's Consort."
A trace of doubt flashed in Pei Mian's eyes, and he went to the public room to meet the guests.
Before stepping onto the steps, he carefully arranged his robe, smelled the sandalwood on his sleeves, wiped off the slight sweat on his forehead, and raised his feet to look at the mud stains on the soles... to ensure that no one would doubt him.
I just went to see the people from the East Palace.
"The prince-in-law is here. I must have heard about Lu Xuan's incident?" As soon as they met, Pei Mian immediately apologized, "This matter is caused by the inferior official's improper arrangement and failed to get rid of Xue Bai. Please give the inferior official some more time."
.”
Yang Hui smiled and said: "I didn't come here today for this matter. I heard that the Ministry of Punishment took Zheng Qian away?"
Pei Mian lowered his head and made some tea, his eyes rolling instantly.
"So the prince-in-law also heard about it? Zheng Qian did write an article privately, slandering Concubine Wu Hui, and the Ministry of Punishment captured him in time. The subordinate has just received the news and is about to monitor the matter."
"Who reported it?"
"I don't know about this at the moment." Pei Mian said: "Someone secretly put Zheng Qian's autographed article on Xiao Shangshu's desk."
"Isn't it arranged by the Right Prime Minister?"
"This... I don't know about this."
Yang Hui walked around in the public room, looked around, and looked out. There was no one else. He signaled the servants to guard the yard and closed the door himself.
"Consort, who is this?"
"There is no one else here, Yushi Pei, tell me straight away, who arranged this?"
Pei Mian said: "I don't know if this is true."
"ha."
Yang Hui grinned, his eyes instantly turned sinister, he raised his hand and slapped Pei Mian directly.
"Snapped!"
The slap was so heavy that Pei Mian couldn't react in time and the futou on his head fell to the ground.
Half of his face immediately became red and swollen. He covered his face and stared at Yang Hui in shock.
"This slap will make you understand clearly who is your boss."
"What does this mean, Prince Consort?"
Before Pei Mian finished speaking, the document with the seal of the East Palace official was unfolded in front of him. His pupils trembled, and he immediately understood that it was Xue Bai who had instigated Yang Wei.
He knew that he had to fight quickly to get rid of Xue Bai first.
"Prince-in-law, please listen to my explanation..."
"Try trying to coax me again!" Yang Hui scolded angrily, raising his hand and slapped him again, very skillfully, "How dare you lick your lips!"
Pei Mian's cheeks were red and swollen, and he finally did not dare to say anything. He quickly prostrated and bowed his head deeply, still trying to calm himself down and think about countermeasures.
Seeing this, Yang Hui was quite satisfied and paced in front of Pei Mian with his hands behind his hands.
"I don't care whether you were the Right Chancellor or a member of the Eastern Palace in the past, you will be mine in the future. Whatever I ask you, you will answer."
"yes."
Yang Hui had many questions he wanted to ask. After pondering for a moment, he decided to test Pei Mian first with the case in front of him.
"What happened to Zheng Qian's case?"
"Zheng Qian was entrusted by Xu Hao, Zhang Jiuling's nephew, to draft a Shinto inscription for him, which included the sentence 'The King Ying presented the former Prince Suojia with two thousand collars'."
Sure enough, Li Linfu deliberately concealed this matter, saying that she was Concubine Wu Hui.
Yang Hui asked again: "Who sued?"
"I really don't know..."
"尻!" Yang Hui picked up Pei Mian, slapped him again, and shouted: "Did you know that I can kill you?"
"Yes, yes. But I really don't know who made the complaint."
"You dare to say it's not Dong Palace?"
Pei Mian was stunned for a moment.
Yang Hui grinned proudly and spat: "Hide it from me?"
"The official went to see Fang Guan and asked about the matter. Fang Guan was ordered by King Guangping to tell Zheng Qian not to let Xue Bai pass the annual examination and to teach him a lesson. Zheng Qian did not agree, and he did have a rift with Fang Guan.
, but this matter was not done by Fang Guan."
"what for?"
"The complainant is someone else."
"who?"
"I don't know yet, but no matter who files the complaint, the Right Prime Minister's Office will definitely use this matter to deal with Dong Gong. Wang Zhi has ordered me to go to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment to interrogate Zheng Qian, induce a confession, and prey on Dong Gong."
Yang Hui asked: "What are you going to do?"
"What plan do I have?" Pei Mian still wanted to be clever. Halfway through his words, he smiled helplessly and said truthfully: "The only way is to divert the disaster eastward and involve Prince Qing, Xue Bai and others."
~~
Ministry of Punishment.
When Xiao Yin saw Yang Hui, he knew why the consort came.
"You actually alarmed your consort? This case is Zheng Qian's slander. Your consort doesn't need to worry about it."
"How can I not care if you dare to slander Queen Zhenshun?" Yang Hui responded: "Have you found out who was behind it?"
Xiao Yinzhi looked at Pei Mian who was following Yang Hui.
Pei Mian nodded and said: "According to the wishes of the Right Prime Minister, Zheng Qian must be allowed to bite the East Palace."
"yes."
Xiao Yinzhi relaxed and realized that the people in front of him were all his own and there was no need to hide them, so he took out a list of names from his arms.
"These are all Zheng Qian's accomplices. The crime of 'criticizing Chengyu' cannot be escaped."
Yang Hui took it and looked at it. The list was very long, and they were all political enemies of the Right Prime Minister's office.
Pei Mian was analyzing from the side.
"Xu Hao, a doctor in the Ministry of Justice, Zhang Jiuling's nephew, the arm of the East Palace, is another key criminal in this case; Beihai Prefect Li Yong, the arm of the East Palace, and Zheng Qian are both famous calligraphers and have exchanged letters; Xue Bai, the Imperial College Supervisor, is in this case
It is also deeply involved; Du Fu, secretary of the Puzhou Salt and Iron Envoy, and Yuan Zai, the magistrate of the Quanli Salt and Iron Envoy, are both Xue Bai's friends..."
After that, Xue Bai attracted many people, the first of whom was Pei Kuan, the Minister of Household Affairs.
In short, both the East Palace and Yanguan have them, and they are all a thorn in the side of Youxiang Mansion and a thorn in the flesh.
Yang Hui nodded repeatedly, thinking, Li Linfu, he claims to be defending Concubine Wu Hui, but all he does is make secret plans.
He sneered slightly and glanced sideways at Pei Mian.
Pei Mian had no choice but, after a moment of reluctance, he took out a document from his sleeve and handed it to Xiao Yinzhi's hand.
"Wang Zhongcheng wants to transfer the prisoners to Dali Temple Prison. Here is the document. Please ask Xiao Shangshu to read it."
"But this is a case of the Criminal Department..."
"The Ministry of Punishment is in charge of punishment, and Dali Temple is in charge of trials. There are many officials involved in this case, so it should be handled by Dali Temple." Pei Mian said calmly.
Although Xiao Yinzhi was the minister, he was afraid of Wang Zhi's power and agreed.
~~
It was nearly dusk.
Imperial College, Du Wulang finally completed the annual examination questions.
He walked out of the school, looked up at the sunset on the horizon, listened to the sound of evening drums, and felt worried.
Thinking that he and Dr. Zheng had drank together and criticized current events, he decided to do something and quickly turned to Xue Bai.
When I rushed to the school where Kao Ce Wen was located, I saw many people already leaving the examination room separated by layers of bamboo curtains.
"Xue Bai."
Du Wulang just put his head in and shouted, but was suddenly pulled aside.
"Su Siye, have you seen Xue Bai?"
"Come this way."
"Hey, we still have to go to the Penal Department Prison to rescue Dr. Zheng..."
~~
Zheng Qian was slowly taken out of the prison of the Ministry of Punishments in shackles and walked through Huangcheng Street.
Dali Temple is in the west. When you raise your head, you can see the sun that is about to set. The twilight is dim. He looks at this scene with doubts in his eyes.
Those articles were written several years ago. Why were they reported recently?
With this thought in mind, he walked into the Dali Temple Government Office and was led through the corridors, but unexpectedly did not enter the Dali Temple Prison.
…
Before the dusk drums stopped, a carriage passed through Shunyi Gate on the west side of the imperial city and entered a house in Buzhengfang.
The house is neither big nor small, but the pavilions and pavilions are very exquisite.
As night fell, in the main courtyard, a beautiful woman moved lightly towards Yang Hui, and said softly: "Mr. Lang is finally willing to come to see the slave family."
The next moment, she stopped because there was another tall man behind Yang Hui, whose face was not visible in the night.
"You go and have a rest. I have something else to do. Don't let anyone come and disturb me."
"yes."
After comforting the beautiful outer room with a few words, Yang Hui glared at Xue Bai behind him with a warning look.
The two rushed to the side courtyard and saw that Zheng Qian had not been brought over yet.
Walking around the screen, Yang Hui let out a long breath and complained: "You are too courageous."
"It doesn't matter, the person was brought out in the name of Pei Mian, who would think of you and me?"
"Oh, I believed your lies."
Xue Bai smiled, still calm.
It was risky to kidnap Zheng Qian privately, but he had no choice.
The power struggle during the Tianbao years has become increasingly fierce. If we don't act decisively and quickly this time, his power will be uprooted first.
Yang Hui took a few steps, thinking, and finally decided to hand a few documents to Xue Bai.
"This is an incredible piece of evidence, I brought it here."
"The prince-in-law is very capable."
Xue Bai did not forget to praise him and took the document to read.
The first is a list, densely packed with names that Li Linfu intends to involve in the case... This is a crucial piece of evidence, but unfortunately the handwriting is not Li Linfu's.
Zheng Qian has already signed a confession from the Ministry of Justice, admitting to the crime of privately writing national history.
Then there are Zheng Qian’s manuscripts.
There is a draft of the Shinto stele, which narrates Zhang Jiuling's life achievements, mentioning that Li Xuan secretly told Li Ying to ask for armor, and Zhang Jiuling persuaded the saint to calm down.
There were only a few sentences involving the case of three common people, but they showed their attitude.
The record of this incident in the Shinto tablet shows that Zheng Qian believed that this was one of Zhang Jiuling's achievements. In other words, he was sure that the request for armor was a false accusation.
Finally, there is another manuscript that records some court affairs in the 25th year of Kaiyuan.
Prince Li Ying played polo with the kings and wrote "Preface to the Poem on the Stadium", which created a scene of loving father and filial piety, brothers and sisters being respectful; the saint offered sacrifices to the Qing Emperor, and the loyal king Li Heng and the Ying King Li Xian served as the saint's loyal and submissive sacrifices respectively.
Things.
Xue Bai read it over and over again, feeling slightly disappointed.
He originally thought that the Ministry of Punishment had arrested someone for the crime of "privately writing national history" for the first time because Zheng Qian had written something remarkable.
And with only these, the Right Prime Minister's Office was immediately sure that this was a serious crime, and the East Palace immediately asked Fang Guan to tell Pei Mian to divert trouble to the east... Either he was overreacting, or he knew that this matter could involve something great.
Yang Hui stepped forward and whispered: "Can you see? These pieces of paper can kill you people."
"Thanks to the prince-in-law." Xue Bai said: "But judging from the handwriting, this is not the original manuscript."
"Xiao Yinzhi handed the original manuscript directly, how could it be given to Pei Mian? It was copied by the Ministry of Punishments."
"Where's Pei Mian?"
"I asked two of my confidants to watch, and they blocked me in the public room of Dali Temple."
"Well, that's good. It will definitely make the prince-in-law achieve great achievements."
Yang Hui sneered slightly, as if he didn't believe it.
After a while, someone brought the blindfolded Zheng Qian into the house.
Xue Bai did not go out to meet Zheng Qian, lest his lies to Yang Wei would be exposed.
He wrote down what he wanted to ask on paper and asked Yang Hui's men to ask.
…
"You privately wrote the history of the country. You should not only have written these manuscripts, right?"
Zheng Qian's eyes were dark and he couldn't see anything. He asked warily: "Who are you?"
After a while.
"This case will involve many people. We help you get out of jail to avoid this. If you don't want to harm your relatives and friends, just tell us directly."
Zheng Qian thought for a while and said, "It's true that it's not just that. I also wrote about the trial process of the three common people case, but it was burned a few years ago."
"How to write it?"
"Taizong deposed the crown prince and ordered all ministers to participate in the trial, and everything was verified. Empress Wu had a deep grudge with the prince Xian, so he deposed the prince according to the procedures. He sent a letter to the disciples for verification... Only when a sage deposes a prince, it is all based on the arbitrary decision of one person.
It is forbidden for Si to be involved, as the three common people’s wife clan and my uncle’s clan are deeply involved.”
"How did you know these things?"
"Some of them were told by Zhang Qujiang, and some of them were witnessed by me, who was accompanying the emperor."
"Did you burn the manuscript?"
"yes."
"Why did it burn?"
"A few years ago, a friend warned me that writing private history of the country might be a crime, so I burned it."
"Who is this friend?"
Zheng Qian said: "I'm sorry it's hard to tell me."
"Since you burned it, why did two manuscripts fall on the desk of the Minister of Justice?"
"I don't know." Zheng Qian recalled and said slowly: "Back then, I threw more than 80 manuscripts into the brazier. I thought they were all burned."
"Stolen?"
"Maybe, it was a thing many years ago."
After Zheng Qian said that, after waiting for a while, the other party stopped asking questions.
~~
"Why didn't you ask?"
"I know everything I need to know. Did I lie to you?" Xue Bai said lightly: "It would be dangerous to know more."
Yang Hui was startled, and when he looked around, he saw Xue Bai burning the questions he had just written one by one on the candle.
He burned it very carefully, and obviously he would not leave one or two pieces behind to be stolen like Zheng Qian did.
"Who filed the complaint?" Yang Hui said, "Is it the East Palace?"
Xue Bai said: "It's not important. What's important is the Right Prime Minister's Mansion. The East Palace will attack each other because of this matter. Are we going to be the fish in the pond that brings disaster, or the fisherman who gains from it?"
"How to do it?"
"Pei Mian. He is from the East Palace. He is the one who kidnapped Zheng Qian for the East Palace this time."
Yang Hui's eyes moved and he guessed that he was trying to frame the East Palace.
Xue Bai finished burning his handwriting, wiped off the ashes on his clothes, and pointed to the evidence taken from the Ministry of Punishments.
"The right prime minister used the Zheng Qian case to once again suppress political opponents. The prisoners have not been tried yet, but a bunch of criminals have been listed, including the salt officer who just collected the salt tax for the saint; the East Palace is not honest, and actually planted an informant to Wang Xian
When someone around me learned about this, I wanted to silence him."
"How to expose them and clean up our relationship?"
"Because Zheng Qian has always been friendly with the East Palace, the right minister told the princess that Zheng Qian had slandered Concubine Wu Hui, and encouraged the princess to enter the palace to file a complaint against the East Palace. He used Princess Xianyi every time. The consort realized that something was wrong, and went to the Ministry of Punishment to ask Xiao Shangshu,
After getting all this evidence, I didn't expect that Pei Mian would take the prisoner away in the blink of an eye."
"How to prove that Pei Mian is from the East Palace? If we use the evidence you gave us, we will also expose the secret."
"That evidence was used to scare him." Xue Bai said: "The prisoner tonight was taken away in the name of Pei Mian. How could Ge Nu doubt you? He would have guessed that Pei Mian was working for the East Palace. He must be in Nanya now.
We have already started searching for people, and as long as we search Pei Mian's home, there will always be clues."
"feasible?"
"feasible."
"A saint is not easy to deceive."
"Don't worry, what we said is almost all the truth." Xue Bai smiled calmly: "And I have some connections in the palace..."
Yang Hui learned.
Xue Bai did this every time, turning Li Linfu and Li Heng into bad guys and pretending to be innocent in front of the saint. This time, he gave the opportunity to them as a couple.
Princess Xianyi is too innocent, so she is often taken advantage of.
Xue Bai seemed to be calm and calm, but something happened suddenly. He was still taking the annual exam. At this time, he was just coaxing Yang Wei with a rough plan, but he hadn't thought about the details yet.
For example, how to conceal what he did in this matter? Lest anyone point out that he was involved.
There are more holes to be filled.
Yang Hui thought for a while and said in deep thought: "But Pei Mian knows all of this."
Xue Bai said in surprise: "Do you still want me to teach you about this matter?"
"Ha." Yang Hui grinned, cut his neck with a hand knife, and said meaningfully: "Donggong still dares to kill people and silence them. He is really cruel."