Fang Yiai and Li Chengqian really guessed wrong, because Fang Yiai and the thorn-head battalion directly under him were all transferred away before the expedition to Gaochang. Therefore, Hou Junji was accused of embezzling the loot and lining his own pocket.
, and did not pull it onto Fang Yiai's head.
Apart from being interrogated once by Liu Hongyu, the Minister of Punishment, the day after he was taken to the Ministry of Punishment, Hou Junji has been detained alone in a single room in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment and has never been interrogated again.
Hou Junji was sent to the prison of the Ministry of Punishments with good food and drink. His clothes were clean and his cell was tidy. Except for the poor lighting in the cell and the inability to go out at will, it was no different from staying in a good inn.
Of course, it would be better if someone can accompany you to talk, or read a book, or bring a chessboard in.
For one and a half months, apart from changing the toilet every morning, delivering three meals on time every day, and delivering bath water and a change of clothes every night, Hou Junji could not see a single living person in the prison at other times!
Even the people who came to deliver things every time seemed to be mute and did not say a word to Hou Junji at all! Even if they were treated with fists and kicks by Hou Junji, they would not even say a word!
As for the family's exploration, hehehe, since the emperor is angry with him, how can he let his family come to visit him?
Although in the past when we went to war, when we set up ambushes to ambush the enemy, we would often spend hours or even days talking a lot, but that was less, not no!
Besides, at that time, someone responded to his words! What about now? Everyone he saw was like dead wood, with no reaction at all, or not a single person in sight!
Even the rats that were regular visitors to the cell were cleaned up by the jailer with all their efforts. To his surprise, not one of them appeared in Hou Junji's cell! Occasionally, in the dead of night, you could still hear something in your ears.
The rustling sound of crawling beetles!
In this way, under such a grueling environment, Hou Junji was coldly and violently detained for a month and a half!
Hou Junji couldn't understand that the wealth he got from killing the Gaochang royal family had long been escorted back to the capital by Ashina Sheer's class teacher. What he got now was just the "filial piety" of the Gaochang survivors later.
What's more, those unscrupulous people who are not yet citizens of the Tang Dynasty don't serve the Heavenly Army of the Tang Dynasty with good food and drink. What's wrong with killing a few of them?
He clearly made great contributions to the Tang Dynasty, opened up and expanded the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and established the Anxi Protectorate, laying a solid foundation for the original Gaochang Kingdom, so that the Gaochang survivors did not dare to look down on the officials of the Tang Dynasty. He also
What's wrong?
No matter from which aspect you look at it, the emperor should reward him instead of mistreating the meritorious officials like this! He even had to plan for his own wealth!
Is such an emperor of the Tang Dynasty, who only listens to one side and only favors Wei Zheng and those censors under him who only know how to talk, is he still the emperor who he sacrificed his life to follow in his early years?
Hou Junji was stunned. The dissatisfaction and resentment towards Li Shimin that had accumulated in his heart began to ferment, expand, continue to ferment, continue to expand...
Through the jailer's report, Liu Hongyu calculated the limits of Hou Junji's heart and interrogated Hou Junji again before Hou Junji completely went crazy.
Hou Junji didn't realize in his heart that he was at fault. The person who was at fault should be the current Holy Master who is no longer the wise master of the past!
Fortunately, while the dissatisfaction and resentment in his heart were extremely fermented and swollen, Hou Junji could still clearly realize that he now had no qualifications and strength to confront the emperor, and everything he had now depended on the so-called holy grace!
What disappointed him the most was that during his imprisonment, he had always been loyal to His Majesty the Emperor and did not come or ask anyone to come to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment to send a message or inquire!
Well, since the emperor and everyone in the court are carrying the treasures in his hands, then he will let them go! Although the money he ceded made him feel heartache, he also knew that money was not as important as his own life!
Just use these treasures to eliminate disasters, and use these treasures to reaffirm the relationship between yourself and the emperor! If the emperor still has himself as a loyal minister who has been with him for half his life, then after handing over these treasures, the emperor will not be responsible for him again.
.
Therefore, when Liu Hongyu was interrogated again, when the Ministry of Punishment found several loyal subordinates who blamed him and a box full of treasures, Hou Junji calmly endured the fact that he had enriched himself in Gaochang.
He earnestly asked Liu Hongyu to convey to Li Shimin that he had truly realized his mistake, would seriously change his past, and begged the emperor to show mercy.
After receiving the case file compiled and submitted by Liu Hongyu, Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Li Shimin read it from beginning to end twice. Finally looking at the case file, he let out a long sigh and said, "I have never treated him badly. I know he loves money, so every time
He was rewarded the most, although not as much as the Crown Prince and King Wei, but still comparable to King Wu."
"Why would he do something so disappointing to me? Do you know that because of his various atrocities after destroying Gaochang, Xue Yantuo, who was interested in making friends with the Tang Dynasty and jointly resisting the Western Turks, became inclined to fight against the Western Turks?
Good intentions!"
"Does he know that because of his single-minded actions, people in the four areas of Anxi are in panic! There are many criticisms of the Anxi Protectorate that I set up after the Han Dynasty! Let the Anxi Protectorate that could have taken over the northwest naturally
, it’s like being stuck in a quagmire, and it’s even harder to move forward!”
"He has been with me for so many years, how could he live up to my high hopes for him?"
"..."
Li Shimin spoke loudly, venting his disappointment towards Hou Junji.
Li Anyang watched Li Shimin quietly as he clicked on the Hou Junji case file on the imperial case, and listened to Li Shimin's disappointed venting, without any intention of persuading or interjecting. It was just like a background board.
Behind Li Shimin.
He knew that what Li Shimin needed now was just a quiet listener, not the so-called considerate persuasion.
If he doesn't let this sullen anger come out, if he keeps it in his heart, it will not only hurt the dragon's body, but also probably implicate a bunch of people to take the blame for Hou Junji. When the time comes, Wei Zheng will start to remonstrate directly, and the emperor will definitely
Even more angry.
Li Shimin vented for half an hour before he finally vented the frustration in his heart and began to deal with the memorial in a relaxed manner.
Just as Li Chengqian expected, Li Shimin was thinking about his old relationship and did not punish Hou Junji seriously. He did not even hit him with a wrench. He only fined him three years of salary for his fault and ordered him to stay at home and think about his mistakes. As for the time limit for thinking about his mistakes, there was no clear setting.
Certainly.
However, Li Shimin did not dismiss Hou Junji's achievements in pacifying Gaochang because of his fault. Instead, after punishing him, he rewarded him based on his merits. Although the rewards were not completely worthy of the rewards Hou Junji handed over.
The amount of property is equivalent to one-tenth of it!
With such rich wealth, even King Li Tai of Wei, who often received rewards, and the wealthy prince Li Chengqian, could not help but feel jealous and their eyes turned red!
When the imperial censors saw the emperor's arbitrary behavior, they naturally wanted to give advice, quote scriptures, and follow examples to analyze the inappropriateness of Li Shimin's move, but they were all suppressed by Li Shimin's insistence on going his own way.
Wei Zheng was so angry that he immediately took off his official hat, cried bitterly in the court, pointed at Li Shimin and began to preach, trying to persuade Li Shimin to withdraw the generous reward to Hou Junji.
If the prince and the officials had not tried their best to dissuade him, Li Shimin would have almost ordered Wei Zheng to be beheaded!
Finally, Li Shimin sent a message and asked two imperial guards to carry Wei Zheng out of the hall and escort him back to the Wei Mansion for self-examination. He also sent a message to Tai Hospital. Wei Zheng was seriously ill and asked people from Tai Hospital to go to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment. When was he cured?
It’s time to let Wei Zheng go to court again!
After finishing, Li Shimin angrily rolled up his sleeves and went straight to the Lizheng Hall to seek comfort from Queen Changsun. He didn't even look at the memorial that was sent to the Taiji Hall.
After Li Shimin left, Li Chengqian discussed with the important ministers and asked Changsun Wuji, Du Ruhui, and Fang Xuanling to go to the Taiji Hall half an hour later to comfort Li Shimin, while he took Cai and Cheng Yaojin back from the military camp.
, Fang Yiai, who had watched a good show in the previous court, went to the Wei Mansion to appease Wei Zheng.
After receiving the emperor's imperial edict, Hou Junji walked out of the prison of the Ministry of Punishments with a refreshed look and a decent attitude. He got on the carriage that came to pick him up from the Hou family and returned to his residence.
Hou Junji, who had been in jail for a month and a half, seemed to have become much more restrained than before. At least the arrogance that he flaunted had been worn deep into his bones.
His speech and behavior are no longer as arrogant and domineering as before, but he seems much gentler.
This made Hou Junji, who was already good-looking, have a gentle and gentle temperament.
Back home, Hou Junji asked Mrs. Hou about the recent affairs in the house and Hou Zanjun's affairs in Jiangnan.
I learned that during the month and a half he was imprisoned, Baekje actually wanted to use their powerful navy for many years to challenge the majesty of the Tang Dynasty, and wrote a letter asking the Tang Dynasty to admit equal exchanges with him and stop paying tribute to the Tang Dynasty.
Gift!
After being severely beaten by Hou Zanjun and Yuchi Baolin, two naval forces who had worked hard to participate, they not only surrendered obediently, but also increased the annual tribute by 30% compared to before!
Even the Fuso Kingdom and the Japanese Kingdom, which supported and instigated Baekje to stir up trouble with the Tang Dynasty, and the navies of the two countries that supported Baekje, were all beaten and fled in embarrassment by the navy troops that the Tang Dynasty had carefully trained this year!
The envoys of Baekje, Wa, and Fusang will arrive in Chang'an next year with generous apology gifts to express their surrender to His Majesty the Tang Emperor.
After listening to his wife's words, Hou Junji's original joy and relief because Li Shimin punished him lightly and gave him generous rewards for his military achievements were completely shattered.
The originally cheerful expression on Hou Junji's face suddenly froze. After sending his wife away rudely, the expression on Hou Junji's face was shattered. At the same time, his renewed loyalty to Li Shimin was also shattered.
!
It turns out that the emperor gave him a lighter punishment not because he cared about the relationship between the two, but because he wanted to win over his son, who had suddenly risen to prominence and was serving in the Navy!