"Liu Ji, Du Youlin and other important criminals were given a hundred sticks, and the family fled to Lingnan..."
I had previously thought that life and death were a minor matter and indiscretion was a major matter, but when I finally got the news, my feelings were completely different from what I expected.
It was the first time for Du Wulang to face a torture in his life, and he couldn't help but feel at a loss.
He couldn't be as undisturbed as Xue Bai, and he didn't know what to do.
The next moment, the whole person was picked up.
"I don't have any energy at all." Yang Zhao reached out and patted his chubby face and asked: "Do you understand? The prince can't protect anyone. In the Tang Dynasty, who is really worthy of serving? Right Mutually!"
Du Wulang cried.
Seeing Yang Zhao's dirty appearance made him feel sick.
He was suddenly afraid that he would gradually become like Yang Zhao after today.
"Crying? Is there any use in crying? Don't you know how to kneel down and beg your right minister? You are useless."
Seeing that Du Wulang's nose was about to drip, Yang Zhao let go of his hand in disgust. He turned around and saw Qing Lan, who was also crying. I felt pity for him and couldn't help but smile and said: "It's so pitiful for your little servant to live in Lingnan. Why don't you ask me to redeem you?" you?"
Qinglan shook her head quickly and looked outside the hall with pleading eyes.
If Xue Bai never comes back, she neither wants to live in exile nor be bullied. She would rather die in the right prime minister's house, staining the indescribably precious prime minister with the blood of her cheap maid.
Just at this moment, someone came from the corridor.
"Xue Bai!"
Qinglan immediately pounced on him, like a frightened deer.
When Du Wulang saw him, he also wanted to run away.
But he was held down by Yang Zhao.
"Stop being so arrogant in the Prime Minister's Mansion!"
"Xue Bai, they want to kill my grandpa with a stick!" Du Wulang cried.
Xue Bai patted Qing Lan first, but before he spoke, his calm expression already gave people a feeling of peace of mind.
At this time, Cang Bi, the steward of the Prime Minister's Mansion, hurried past him, as if he was his entourage.
"Yang Canjun." Cang Bi said, "Alang ordered you and Xue Bai to go to Dali Temple."
Yang Zhao smiled apologetically and said, "Is there any more?"
"No more." Cang Bi glanced at him lightly.
Yang Zhao was greatly disappointed and secretly scolded Li Linfu for not rewarding him for his merits.
~~
Chang'an City has outer city, palace city and imperial city.
The palace city is located in the north, where the emperor lives; the imperial city is located in the south of the palace city, where the ancestral temple, government offices, military offices, and warehouses are located, that is, the place of administration.
The buildings in the imperial city are magnificent, which is a completely different scene compared to the outer city.
Dali Temple is located in the west of the Imperial City, next to Shunyi Gate.
In front of the lobby of the government office, many prisoners were kneeling on the ground, and Du Bei was among them.
When I saw Li Linfu today, Ji Wen did not come, but Yan Zhenqing, the captain of Chang'an County, took out the draft. In addition, Jing Zhaoyin and Han Chaozong tried hard to prove that the Du family was wronged, so Du Wei recanted her confession on the spot.
"Unjustly accused! The daughter of the people has never seen who Liu Ji befriended for the East Palace. As for setting fire to destroy the evidence, it is even more false. It was all done by Cao Jiwen, the judge of Jingzhao Prefecture, who tortured him to extract a confession and beat him into a trick. Please tell me."
"That's right." Han Chaozong immediately said seriously: "The prince and Du Liangdi are not on good terms and have already reconciled. How can he order Liu Ji to run the business? Let alone send people to destroy evidence? This case only has oral confessions and no physical evidence, so there are many doubts. Liu Ji Accumulation, why don’t you just recruit it from reality?!”
"I, I was wronged, I just had a quarrel with my father-in-law, and I was angry for a moment..."
Soon, Han Chaozong took advantage of Li Linfu's absence to review the case as quickly as possible and hurriedly sent it to Miyagi City.
Seeing this situation, Du Mei thought that the Du family's injustice had been cleared up.
She thought of the young man Lang Xue Bai who was rescued by the Du family. It was he who reported the news overnight, so they found the key evidence in the study, handed it over to the prince, and then handed it over to these upright and loyal officials, and finally the case was overturned.
"It's done, we did it." Du Wei thought to herself.
However, when the verdict came down and fell in her ears, it was like a thunderbolt.
"Liu Ji, Du Youlin and other important criminals were given a hundred sticks, and the family fled to Lingnan..."
Du Wei couldn't believe it.
The case has clearly been tried. Her grandfather was wronged and the Du family was wronged. Why should an innocent person be punished?
No one gave her an explanation.
It was as if the interrogation before this was just a performance before the banquet. No matter how well the performance was, it would not affect the serving of food.
The people of the Du family who were kneeling and shivering were the appetizers of this feast.
The princes sat high in the hall, as if they wanted to share the food with them.
~~
Yang Shenjin, the censor Zhongcheng, looked at Du Wei's beautiful face with a sad expression in his eyes, and sighed sympathetically.
He had always known that even if the Du family was wronged, the saint would not be able to pardon the Du family since the case was so serious. Otherwise, what good would it do to the country if people had the illusion that it was okay to be close to the prince?
Therefore, he watched coldly today as Han Chaozong tried his best to clear the Du family's grievances and did not stop him from the beginning to the end.
"well."
"Mr. Han." Yang Shenjin turned around and whispered, "You have tried your best."
"The prince has cut off his robe to avoid the fire. Today I am not the prince, but I want to put this case to rest as soon as possible."
Yang Shenjin nodded and said, "Mr. Han is very righteous."
Han Chaozong smiled bitterly and glanced sideways at Left Prime Minister Chen Xilie who was sitting in the back listening to the trial. He didn't know whether he was asleep or not.
Just this year, Li Shizhi, the original left prime minister, was demoted by Li Linfu and replaced by Chen Xilie, who doesn't care about anything.
Han Chaozong had always been on good terms with Li Shizhi, and he already knew that his Jing Zhaoyin was about to leave. But he just explained that he just hoped that Li Linfu would not kill everyone.
"I can't call it high righteousness. I just wanted to do something good for Jingyin in the end, but it's a pity that I couldn't do it."
Although Yang Shenjin also worked for Li Linfu, he still retained his integrity. He glanced around and lowered his voice and said: "Han Gong has saved countless lives. If the Du family is convicted of treason today, I am afraid that more people will die."
"That's all I can think about."
"There is nothing we can do." Yang Shen said cautiously, "Then, kill Liu Ji with a stick first?"
Han Chaozong nodded and said, "Yes."
Yang Shenjin, a member of the Right Prime Minister, wanted to kill Liu Ji, the prince's brother-in-law, to establish his authority; Han Chaozong was close to the prince in his heart, but he also wanted to kill Liu Ji quickly to avoid biting more people.
The two have different positions, but at this moment their murderous intentions are the same.
~~
"What an injustice!"
Liu Ji had long lost his former boldness. He was pushed to the ground and kept shouting that he was wronged.
The Dali Temple official who was imprisoning him shook his head and said, "Are you unjust? Are you still unjust? Do you know how many people have been killed by you?"
The official turned around and pointed. Liu Ji lay there and looked at his finger. What he saw was the Taoist priest Fang Daxu, the steward of Du's house Quan Rui and other accomplices. At the same time, many of his friends were tied up aside.
Thinking of the past banquets, Liu Ji was in a trance. He still didn't believe that he could die, and shouted: "They promised me! Ji Wen, you promised that I would have a great future if I sued the prince! You promised me..."
"Execution!"
Liu Ji felt a chill in his buttocks and had already taken off his middle coat.
"Snapped!"
Amidst the heavy sound, the cane struck, causing severe pain.
He couldn't help but cry out in agony, still hoping that Ji Wen would order him to stop the torture, or that he could survive the hundred punishments, so he gritted his teeth and suffered.
"Snapped!"
For some reason, the whipping stick looked light and fluttery, but every blow was really painful. After only five sticks, the skin and flesh on Liu Ji's buttocks were already torn. He could no longer hold on, and he begged for mercy like a butchered pig.
"Ah! It hurts... don't fight... just kill me..."
"kill me!"
The screams passed through the yamen and reached the ears of the prisoners, making them tremble with fear.
Many people who were implicated by Liu Ji were still yelling and cursing, but they did not dare to speak out again.
After only about twenty sounds, the sound of whipping had stopped.
"Report, Liu Ji can't stand it anymore, the stick is dead!"
"..."
Du Wei couldn't help but turn around and saw the bold and arrogant husband lying naked and motionless in the courtyard, with bloody flesh on his buttocks. Later, he was picked up like a broken sack and thrown aside. .
"puff."
Even the sound of falling to the ground was like a sack.
Du Wei's tears burst into her eyes again.
Looking back on those days, Liu Ji had a handsome appearance and extraordinary conversation, and everyone in the family was satisfied. After marriage, there was a time when they treated each other as guests. Later, when his second sister married the prince, he heard too much flattery from outside, and his madness gradually emerged until he suddenly got angry. It was out of control; so the whole family hated him and hated him. She tried to persuade him countless times in private, but there was nothing she could do about him.
It wasn't that she still had a deep relationship with him, but that she desperately wanted to abide by her duties as a wife. But at this moment, she suddenly regretted that she couldn't make up her mind earlier and had to maintain the superficial respectability until a big mistake was made.
"Next, Du Youlin."
There was no time for Du Wei to grieve for her husband, so her father was dragged to the courtyard again.
"No!"
"Don't touch my clothes!"
"Grandpa!"
"Press down!"
"Alang!"
"..."
Previously, all the prisoners hated Liu Ji for making random false accusations and did not come forward. Now when they saw Du Youlin being dragged out, they knew that they would be the next to suffer this unreasonable disaster. They were so frightened that they all wailed, causing chaos.
Du Wei stood up with all her might and tried to stop him, but in the confusion she got hit on the forehead and fell to the ground.
"Everyone stop it!"
Yang Shenjin, the censor Zhongcheng, shouted loudly, stepped forward in person, and helped Du Mei up.
"My grandfather was wronged! Please investigate clearly!"
Yang Shenjin spoke softly and said, "Madam, I can no longer save your father. Please take more care of yourself. Yang will try his best to save you from the pain of migration."
Du Wei was stunned.
She suddenly pursed her lips, broke away from Yang Shenjin's hand, and knelt on the ground again.
How could she not understand what he meant?
The implication is that he wants her to be his concubine or a private servant.
She didn't feel moved, only felt humiliated.
The feeling of being treated like a dish waiting to be shared made her breathless.
She would rather wait for her grandfather to die and then die in the government office than beg for mercy from these people again.
The muffled sound of being whipped came again from behind. Du Wei knelt there, not looking at Du Youlin who was being whipped. She just gritted her teeth until blood flowed from her bite.
suddenly,
"Suspension!"
There were loud shouts one after another.
"Suspension!"
Du Wei's heart, which had just sunk to the bottom, trembled violently again. She felt that the voice was vaguely familiar, so she quickly turned around.
I saw a man coming up the stairs and stopped the official who was beating her grandfather.
"Xue Bai?"
Du Wei was confused for a moment, with surprise in her eyes.
"Xue Bai!"
~~
Xue Bai looked at the Dali Temple in front of him, with some strange kindness and inquiry in his eyes.
He even recognized the location. It was probably in the Xijuyuan Lane area in later generations, near Xi'an Children's Hospital.
But when he climbed up the stairs, his eyes quickly became unfamiliar again.
He saw dried blood stains all over the courtyard. The corpses of the caned victims in Wei Jian's case had been piled up like mountains. Only recently had space been made to prepare for stacking new corpses. The old, weak, women and children kneeling in the hall were all innocent. His eyes were fearful, like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
He did not feel the majesty of the law.
There is only the majesty of the imperial power and the majesty of the prime minister.
This is not a fair place for people to punish crimes and uphold justice. It has become a slaughterhouse where two superiors who are always worried about being deprived of their power wantonly kill the weak!
The more Xue Bai looked, the stranger he looked. Every time he climbed the steps, his face became darker and darker...
~~
Several minor officials looked around and saw a young man with a strong aura and no anger coming slowly towards him. Behind him was the right Xiaowei holding a token and shouting loudly.
The official was so powerful that they were so frightened that they did not dare to stop him, so they retreated continuously, staggering and falling to the ground.