The Han River flows back thousands of miles and is made into a Nine Dragon Pan.
The whole of China was crushed, and Cui Wei flew swiftly.
After the fall of the Six Emperors, the Three Wus were indifferent.
I, the king, have mixed up in the district, and I have bowed my head to keep everyone safe.
Today I am the young master, and I will stop fishing in Canglang.
——"Jinling Looking at the Han River" Li Bai
…
The Tang Dynasty implemented the "Three Divisions of Judges" system. When cases were reported to the court, they were heard by the Minister of Menxiasheng, Zhongshu Sheren of Zhongshu Province, Yushitai Yushi and other minor three divisions; major cases were heard by the ministers of Dali Temple,
The Minister of Justice and the Censor Zhongcheng jointly judged the case.
In view of the seriousness of the case, Suzong decreed that the case of crossbow trafficking and Bai Fu's assassination should be tried jointly by the minister of Dali Temple, the Minister of Punishment, and the Yushi Zhongcheng.
After the descendants of the Lu and Cui families entered the prison, they were frightened to death when faced with the cold instruments of torture and the cruel jailers. These usually pampered young men were frightened.
It didn't take much effort for the Dali Temple Judge to pry open the mouths of these young men. They told everything they should and shouldn't say.
Lu Zi has been in the arms business, and through the connections of aristocratic families, he has been getting acquainted with generals in the army who have resources.
This batch of Meteor Repeating Crossbows was extremely powerful. Once they came out, Lu Zi immediately sniffed out business opportunities.
However, the Meteor Repeating Crossbow was a sharp weapon in the army and was strictly controlled. Lu Zi could not purchase it from the Tang army in Duji Road, Henan Road and other places.
Lu Zi had an idea and found a way to get the delivery records of the Ministry of War's serial crossbows. He followed the pictures and tried to find possible supply channels.
The Tang army in the Fengxiang war zone mainly defended the Qiang and Hun tribes in Jingzhou and Longzhou, and the control was relatively loose. Therefore, Lu Zi contacted Cui Jingwan of the third house of the Boling Cui family through Cui Xunhe.
Cui Jingwan had a history of selling military weapons to Tubo, Uighur and other armies. When he saw that Lu Zi paid a lot of money to buy them, he sold these serial crossbows to Lu Zi without saying a word.
After Lu Zi got the serial crossbows, he originally wanted to send these serial crossbows to Fanyang and sell them to the rebels stationed in Fanyang. Unexpectedly, a Goguryeo buyer came out halfway and bought these serial crossbows at a price several times that of the rebels.
There is only one condition: secretly transport these batches of serial crossbows into Chang'an.
At the same time, the Goguryeo buyer promised that once these batches of repeating crossbows are used, they will be completely destroyed to ensure that no one will find out the clues about this batch of repeating crossbows.
Transporting the Meteor Crossbow into Chang'an, the ambition of the Goguryeo people is obvious, and what they have to do is definitely not a trivial matter.
Lu Zi was uneasy and hesitated again and again. Seeing this, the Goguryeo buyers kept raising the price. Lu Zi thought about it, but still could not resist the temptation, and finally transported the batch of repeating crossbows into Chang'an through Lu's caravan.
In order to draw a clear line with the Goguryeo people and prevent the disaster from moving eastward, Lu Zi deliberately relaxed his guard and allowed the Goguryeo people to sneak into the warehouse and steal these military crossbows, creating the illusion that the warehouse was stolen.
If one day, the Dongchuang Incident occurs, we can only say that the ordnance in his private collection was stolen, and it has no direct connection with the incident committed by the Goguryeo people.
Lu Zi thought to himself that all the big families in Chang'an secretly hid ordnance, but the quantity differed. Everyone knew about this matter. If the source of the Lian Nu was really discovered, with the family's connections and the prince's power, he would be able to avert danger.
, nothing big will happen.
In the eyes of people from wealthy families like Lu Zi, slogans such as "princes who break the law are as guilty as the common people" are deceiving the common people. In the past dynasties, only the dignitaries who offended the emperor were executed. It was rare to see the emperor's relatives, princes and nobles being punished for breaking the law.
Example of killing.
When the news about Bai Fu's assassination came out, Lu Zi learned about the purpose of the Meteor Repeating Crossbow and became even more unscrupulous.
Bai Fu is a descendant of a poor family, not to mention not marrying the princess yet. Even if he becomes the prince's consort, he will only be from a foreign family, not the orthodox blood of the Five Surnames and Seven Hopes family. What's more, Bai Fu offended the prince first, and when the prince ascends the throne, he will no longer be prominent.
.
After thinking about these points, Lu Zi became more and more unscrupulous. When the Goguryeo buyer found Lu Zi again and informed him that all the military crossbows had been destroyed, and hoped that the assassins could evacuate Chang'an through Lu's caravan, Lu Zi readily agreed.
Of course, this favor will not be in vain, and Lu Zi will make a lot of money.
In order to ensure safety, Lu Zi encouraged Cui Jingwan to disguise the assassins as Fengxiang Tang troops escorting grain, grass and military supplies, and swaggered out of Chang'an City.
On the day when Fengxiang Tang Army's grain transport team left the city, Lu's caravan divided into several teams and left the city at the same time from each city gate, taking the opportunity to attract the attention of the interrogating defenders and cover the assassins' exit from the city.
…
After asking Suzong for instructions, Bai Fu, in his capacity as Minister of War, ordered generals from all armies to attend and observe the case.
On the day of the meeting of the three divisions, both sides of the palace were crowded with generals from all the armies in Beijing.
During the three-day trial, the clues of the case unfolded one by one: Lu Zi, the eldest grandson of the Lu family in Fan Yang, teamed up with the Cui family members of the third house of the Cui family in Boling to collude with the rebels, sell arms, and provide military supplies.
Compared to the Lu family, where only Lu Zi was involved in the case, many members of the Cui family in the third house of the Cui family in Boling were involved in the arms trafficking case.
When the truth of the case was revealed, the generals were in an uproar. No wonder the rebels had strong firepower. It turned out that there were always powerful families behind them.
There were also some generals with ugly faces and uneasy faces. These people had more or less participated in similar incidents before and had acted as brokers for aristocratic families.
The joint trial of the three divisions was over. In order to serve as a warning and to strictly enforce military discipline, Suzong ordered that all the criminals involved in the case be killed.
Judging from superficial clues, Lu Zi has been engaged in arms trading for a long time, and his crime is unforgivable. However, many important officials in the court knew very well: How could the Lu family be the only one involved in such a big matter?
But there must be a story behind such a trial by the court.
Even the honest and honest Mr. Yan Zhenqing did not dig deep for clues and just pointed out the clues. Who among these old foxes in official circles has a clear mind, and everyone cooperated tacitly and remained silent.
Although the criminals involved in the case were executed, the matter did not end there and continued to ferment.
The news that the Bolingcui clan colluded with the rebels quickly spread throughout the Tang Dynasty, and the soldiers of the three armies were furious. Reports of impeachment of the Bolingcui clan flew into the court like snow flakes, demanding that the Bolingcui clan members who colluded with the rebels be killed.
The various military governors complied with the morale of the army and ordered all the Bolingcui clan members to be expelled from the army.
In the prefecture and county where the Bolingcui family members served as county guards, the troops stationed in the jurisdiction were agitated and there was a possibility of mutiny at any time. In order to ensure the safety of their lives, the Bolingcui family members resigned from their posts as county guards. They did not wait for the imperial court to send personnel to take over.
The official seal was hung on the beam, and he left without saying goodbye.
During the massive campaign to denounce the Bolingcui family, not only the third house of the Bolingcui family collapsed, but the rest of the Bolingcui family also suffered.
The Bolingcui family was completely defeated and had to hand over power, stay away from the court, return to their hometown, and completely withdraw from the power center of the Tang Dynasty.
The Bolingcui family held a family meeting in their hometown. The clan members who were usually on the same side turned against each other and rebuked the stupidity of the Bolingcui family's third family, and even abolished Cui Ping's identity as the leader of the Bolingcui family's third family clan.
After Cui Ping, who challenged Bai Fu, returned home, he soon fell ill and died in depression.