A month later, in a single cell in Tingwei Prison, the general manager of the inner court, Mr. Lu, came with a heavy face to read out the imperial edict. Seeing this, Mr. Bai was already fully dressed, knelt on the ground and calmly accepted the order to review the cattle.
"The edict says: The treacherous prince, Prince Bai, has gathered gang members, beguiled the mob, and tried to spy on the artifact. He is deeply indebted to me. The treacherous prince has committed the following crimes, is arrogant and rude, has made his wits dim, and has no regard for human ethics, filial piety, and righteousness. It is my intention to depose Prince Bai from his position as prince. , demoted to a commoner, sentenced to death immediately, admire this..."
As Lu Liang's last words of admiration fell, Prince Bai bowed his head to thank him!
Lu Liang put away the edict and waved to an eunuch beside him to bring a glass of royal wine to Young Master Bai. He said with a somewhat complicated expression: "Young Master Bai, this is the royal wine given to you by His Majesty. Please drink it."
Young Master Bai looked at the wine glass in front of him, knowing that it was poisonous wine to send him on his way. He raised his head and glanced at Lu Liang, and finally asked: "Manager Lu, I have one last thing to ask of you. I want to know whether your majesty is useless. Li Zhixin?”
Lu Liang showed an unbearable look on his face and sighed: "Before your Majesty took the Ten Thousand God Pill and gambled his life, he had already handed over the edict of your succession to the old slave for safekeeping. How could your Majesty depose you as the crown prince? Hey! Young Master...you...why are you so confused, hey!"
When the young master Bai heard this, he laughed, picked up the wine glass and said to Lu Liang: "Thank you, Father, for the wine. I misunderstood Your Majesty. My sin is unforgivable, and I will die without any regrets..."
After the young master finished Bai, he drank the royal wine in one gulp. After a while, the young master turned blue and his whole body was shaking. Finally he raised his eyes and looked at the sunshine outside the window, then his body fell back and closed his eyes forever... …
An imperial doctor stepped forward and checked Gongzi Bai's pulse, then nodded silently to Lu Liang.
Lu Liang looked sad and told the eunuch beside him in a trembling voice: "Go to the palace quickly to send word that Young Master Bai has passed away."
The eunuch took the order and turned around and ran away...
After the prince was given death, all the gangsters who rebelled against the prince and the officials in the court who were implicated in the prince's affairs were all questioned and executed today.
The first person is Qin Shao, who is known as the number one think tank in the East Palace. Behind Qin Shao are Liu Yu, Cai Ying and others, followed by the prince's party and a group of officials and family members who directly participated in the rebellion. Taiji Palace After the incident, except for the Cui family, the prince's widow was pardoned, demoted to common people, and exiled to Yunzhong County as a prisoner. Most of the other people were sentenced to severe punishments such as being cut in half and abandoning the city, implicating the three clans. Behind dozens of prison cars carrying the main criminals, there were thousands of people who were beheaded just because of the implication.
At the execution ground, it was already three quarters of noon. A group of the prince's remnants were escorted to the execution ground to prepare for execution. In particular, Qin Shao, Liu Yu, and Cai Ying were the main culprits in the Taiji Palace Incident. , cut in half and abandon the remaining
The so-called five-part punishment means that one is first subjected to five kinds of corporal punishment, and finally the person is cut off from the waist and abandoned. It is a cruel punishment method second only to the splitting of a chariot and the quartering of a body by five horses.
Qin Shao, Liu Yu, and Cai Ying were carried to the execution platform by the executioner, and their tongues were cut out in the first sentence. After the executioner cut out their tongues, the three of them had their mouths full of blood, screamed incessantly, and lost their tongues. They could not say a word, but just hummed. Heng Ji struggled on the execution platform.
The second punishment was to cut off the nose, the third punishment was to cut off the victim's feet and hands, and the fourth punishment was to be whipped for thirty years with a whip dipped in salt water, causing the victim's skin to be bruised and the wounds to be unbearably painful.
After receiving these four punishments, Qin Shao and others were basically dying. The last of the five punishments was Dapi. The three of them were directly pushed to the foot of the beheading platform by the executioner and chopped in half. As the ax fell, the three of them were freed. .
After the three main suspects were executed, all the accomplices and their family members were beheaded on the spot. For a time, thousands of people were tortured and died at the same time. In the execution ground, the smell of blood lingered for a long time, and the onlookers all had expressions of emotion on their faces. I haven’t seen so many executions at the same time in many years...
Qingyang, in the Zhangtai Palace, the emperor was looking through the memorials submitted from various places. When he received the news that the prince had been sentenced to death, the emperor suddenly stopped writing and slowly put down the memorial. His head felt dizzy and he rubbed his eyebrows. He took a long breath, calmed down and started to review the memorials again, but he was already a little absent-minded. After reviewing a few more memorials, he simply greeted the palace people and went to Ganquan Palace to relax.
The prince of the empire who had worked so hard to cultivate for so many years was gone. The emperor had no feeling in his heart. It was a lie. However, the prince had rebelled and his crime was unforgivable. As a king, he had to order the execution of the prince. As a father, It is human nature to feel sorry in our hearts.
The emperor sat on the chariot, and a group of eunuchs carried the emperor's chariot to the imperial garden and Ganquan Palace located in the west city of Qingyang City.
Qingyang Palace, built over hundreds of years by the Jin Dynasty's ancestors, is huge in scale. There is an inland river in the city, which divides the east and west cities. Although the main palace complex of Qingyang Palace is in the Dongcheng District, there is also a separate palace in Xicheng District on the west bank of the inland river. When the palace was first built, in order to make it easier for the emperor to leave the palace and relax, three aerial covered bridges four feet high from the river bank were built on both sides of the inland river. The corridors connecting the palaces and gardens on both sides were specially designed for the emperor to shuttle back and forth. The aerial covered bridge is also a great wonder in Qingyang City.
The reason why three aerial corridor bridges were built was to prevent someone from planning an ambush and assassinating the emperor. Every time the emperor's chariot passed through the aerial corridor bridge, one of them was randomly selected to pass.
When the emperor walked to the sky bridge, he suddenly said:
"Stop for a moment and get off the sedan."
The palace attendants accompanying the emperor did not dare to make any mistakes, and carefully put down their chariots.
The emperor got off the chariot and came to the sky bridge. The breeze was blowing on his face. He looked at the bustling markets on both sides of the inland river and the ships passing by. He couldn't help but sigh:
"The country is picturesque..."
The prince had been sentenced to death. The emperor's words meant that he was already thinking about the next successor of the empire. He looked around, wanting to find someone to talk to, but suddenly he remembered that Lu Liang, the general manager of the inner court, had gone to Tingwei Prison to pass the news. The purpose has not been returned.
After a long while, the emperor frowned, then turned around and sat on the chariot, saying: "Let's get started."
After hearing this, all the people in the palace raised their chariots and went to Ganquan Palace.
At this time, in the palace of Prime Minister Zuo, there were the leader of the Qingyi envoy of the emperor's internal guard, Bian Hu, the prosecutor of the school, the leader of the Tingwei who was in charge of investigating the rebellion caused by the rebel prince's party, Ma Xin, one of the nine ministers, and Huo Zheng, the prime minister of the Jin Dynasty Zuo.
Although the prince has been sentenced to death by the emperor, a series of events after the prince's death still need to be dug deeper. This time, it was the left prime minister Huo Zheng who took charge and jointly investigated the prince's rebellion case with the Qingyi envoy and Tingwei.
Huo Zheng looked at the files examined by Tingwei, and found nothing. He then turned over the files investigated by the Tsing Yi Envoy. His brows were furrowed. After a while, he looked at the leader of the Tsing Yi Envoy, Inspector Bian Hu, and asked: "Captain Bian, Has His Majesty read the files investigated by the Tsing Yi Envoy?"
Hearing this, Bian Hu shook his head and said: "This is the evidence that our Qingyi envoy has just investigated and has not had time to report. This person is a retainer of An Guojun's house. Now I have sent a few experts to keep an eye on him. Everything is still there." It depends on His Majesty’s decision.”
After hearing this, Huo Zheng thought for a while and said, "So it seems that Lord An Guo may also be involved in the case of Prince Ni?"
Bian Hu nodded slightly and said, "That's true."
Huo Zheng thought about some of the emperor's recent words and deeds and thought about it for a long time: "This matter concerns Lord An Guo. We will immediately go to the palace to submit the order to His Majesty in person. It will not be too late to investigate the case."
Bian Hu nodded in agreement.
The three of them went all the way to the Ganquan Palace in the west of the city to report to the emperor.
After reading the submitted files, the emperor was silent for a while, looked at Bian Hu, and asked: "Bian Hu, is this person really from Mu Xiu's house?"
Bian Hu stepped forward and confirmed: "Your Majesty, I am convinced that when the Qingyi envoy was investigating the case in the East Palace, he accidentally learned a clue. This person's name is Zhao Dan. He defected to the Anguo Lord's house as a retainer a long time ago. Except for Wei Man, this person is also highly regarded by Lord An Guo."
When the emperor heard this, he was silent for a while and then ordered: "Bian Hu, please don't investigate this matter any further. Please retreat. Huo Qing, please stay for a while. I have important matters to discuss with you."
"promise."
The next day, in the private room of Chunjiang Tower, Zhao Chu was dressed in short clothes. At first glance, he looked like a salesman hawking on the street. Opposite him was Wu Xie, who claimed to have returned to his hometown to work in farming, but now he officially became a wine shop owner here. Take care of the business here full time.
The two of them were sitting opposite each other, playing a game of Go. At this moment, the chess game was in ruins. Zhao Chu was holding the black chess piece and making a move.
When Wu Xie saw Zhao Chu take this step, he was a little surprised. He nodded slightly and said, "Wonderful."
Zhao Chu looked at the chessboard and said thoughtfully: "Old Wu, the prince's remnants were all executed yesterday. Next, it will be a game between us and An Guojun, or a game against His Majesty."
Wu Xie said: "I didn't expect that the prince would take that step."
Hearing this, Zhao Chu smiled slightly and said, "It's just taking advantage of the situation. Everyone has their own plans. In fact, the Prime Minister of the Left Huo Zheng also has his own selfish motives. He actually wants to use Cui Yan to instigate the incident of forcing hundreds of officials to force the palace, and use His Majesty's tiger skin to defeat him for many years." His powerful political rival, the Right Prime Minister Cui Yan, unexpectedly used too much force and accidentally forced the prince to rebel, causing the situation to get out of hand, which no one expected."
Wu Xie said: "I heard that His Majesty has begun to re-employ the Yang family and has begun to pave the way for the next prince?"
Zhao Chu nodded slightly and said: "Well, it is true. The Yang family has two marquises. Yicheng Marquis Yang Lin has been transferred back to the capital from other places. He will be appointed as General Zuo in the court. It will not be long before he is replaced by His Majesty. Officially appointed as the auxiliary minister, Wuyi Hou Yang Yan took over the post of commander-in-chief of the Great Wall Corps and the armed guards. The court has 300,000 border troops at his disposal. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is His Majesty paving the way for the future prince."
Wu Xie nodded and said: "Although Your Majesty intends to pass the throne to An Guojun, after the Rebellion of the Crown Prince, Your Majesty will never legitimately grant An Guojun the official title of prince. This is where our opportunity lies."
Zhao Chu nodded and said: "Not bad!"
After saying that, Zhao Cu lost another son...
