In the early morning of the next day, the emperors and ministers of the Sui Dynasty finished discussing the established issues in the Xuanzheng Hall, and Yang Guang signaled that they could move on to the next issue.
Today's court meeting was hosted by Huangfu Wu'an, the young eunuch in the palace. Huangfu Wu'an was the eldest son of the late Huangfu Dan, Ming Gong of Hongyi County, a descendant of Huangfu Song, a famous general in the Han Dynasty. His father was one of Yang Jian's direct descendants during the Northern Zhou Dynasty. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, he successively served as the justice of Yizhou, the governor of Nanhai, the doctor of the Bibu Division of the Ministry of Justice, the minister of the Ministry of punishment, and the censor of the government. He also served as the ambassador of peace to the two rivers. During this period, he settled the refugees and made great achievements. Later he moved to Dali Shaoqing and Shangshu Youcheng. After his mother's death, he resigned and returned home to observe mourning. When the mourning period expired, he moved to Shangshu Zuocheng and served as Sima and Yitong of Bingzhou, as assistant. Yang Liang, King of the Left Han Dynasty. Later, he was killed by Ruru Tianbao when he led a lone army to stop Yang Liang's rebellion in Xihe County, Bingzhou, and the city was destroyed. He was only fifty-one years old at that time.
After the war, Yang Guang was rewarded for his merits and posthumously presented Huangfu as Zhuguo, Zuo Guanglu doctor, and Hongyi County Duke. His posthumous title was Ming, which was inherited by Huangfu Wu'an. Wu'an's brother is the current prefect of Lelang County, Huangfu Wuyi. .
The Huangfu brothers were both civil and military and loyal, much like their father, and were highly appreciated and favored by Yang Guang. Huangfu Wu'an received the emperor's signal. He first bowed to Yang Guang who was sitting on the throne, and then said to the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty: "The next topic is a temporary addition this morning, which is the assassination of Yuan Taifu and his son."
After hearing this, all the ministers in the palace fell silent immediately, and many people quietly cast their eyes on Yang Ji.
The fact that Yuan Shou and his son were killed by a crossbow made by Liangzhou was not a great secret to these concerned people; they originally thought that this assassination case would be hastily ended and left unsolved due to the excessive power of both parties, and it would eventually become a The "hanging eucalyptus" for the Yuan family to admit their losses. But he never thought that he would be brought to the court so quickly. Judging from this posture, Henan Mansion must have found something.
Seeing that the hall became quiet, Yang Guang said: "The reason why I brought this case to the court for discussion is because it is the worst case I have encountered since I ascended the throne. As the emperor of the Sui Dynasty, I need Show a clear attitude in public, otherwise, similar assassinations will definitely occur one after another, causing the world to lose its rules and fall into chaos."
Yang Guang could tolerate the fighting among the ministers and the overt and secret fighting among the various factions. If the factions were like a pool of calm stagnant water and did not fight, it would be detrimental to his rule of the world. But everyone must fight within his limits, and must not break the rules or laws, let alone use violent means to assassinate political opponents. Otherwise, the country will not be a country.
"The saint is wise!" Yang Guang's thoughts coincided with those of the ministers and were in the interests of everyone. Although intrigues, overt and covert fights, and mutual frame-ups are normal in the officialdom, and even various private exchanges of interests and political compromises are normal, political struggles also have a bottom line. No matter how hard we fight, we cannot be unscrupulous, like this The assassination of important officials has exceeded the bottom line in everyone's heart, and no one can allow it to exist.
The current assassination case must be caught as a model, and the real culprit must be severely punished. Only by killing chickens and warning monkeys can we clean up the court and serve as a warning to others.
Expressing his attitude, Yang Guang said to Lu Chu, the governor of Henan Province: "Lu Qing, you are the governor of Henan Province. It is your duty to inspect this case. It is up to you to state the deficiencies. Guo Changshi and Zhao Sima will take care of them." Replenish."
"I obey the order!" Lu Chu, Guo Wenyi and Zhao Changwen came out to answer the order.
Lu, Guo and Zhao's investigation into this case is progressing rapidly. They wrote a detailed memorial and reported it to Yang Guang yesterday afternoon. They were notified of today's court hearing early, so they all came prepared.
"Sages and ministers, these two terrible assassinations happened when it was getting dark the day before yesterday. The assassins made full preparations before the assassination. After they completed the assassination, they escaped through the night, Luoshui, and Caohe River. And Hou Although the guards and city patrols responded quickly, their reaction speed was not as good as that of the assassins who had been prepared. Even if the Xiaoguo Army was later dispatched to search, nothing was found." Lu Chu knew that this matter was of great importance, so he spoke in great detail: " While searching for the assassin, Chen and others started with eyewitnesses on land and water, but found nothing on land. However, the responding ship stayed on the Luoshui River for too long, blocking the passage of passing fishing boats and passenger ships, which aroused everyone's complaints and attention. With so many people paying attention, the assassin’s activities will naturally be exposed one by one.”
"While Henan Prefecture was investigating, the Yuan family was also investigating the case. Yuan Renhui, Yuan Jie and others also started from the waterway. They found a passenger ship traveling with the assassin. The owner of the passenger ship saw the assassin on the Abandoning the boat on the Caohe River between Cihuifang and Xunshanfang, the empty boat was allowed to lure away the pursuers on the shore. As soon as the pursuers passed by, the assassin immediately changed to a passenger boat and quickly sailed into Nanshi. The following Xiaoguojun, Hou Wei, While patrolling the city and searching for them, they had already left both sides of the Luoshui River, and finally landed at the dock in Beiqu, Nanshi."
"The directions and results obtained by the government are the same as those of the Yuan family, but they are a few hours later than the Yuan family."
After introducing the progress of the operation, Lu Chu paused, and then continued: "The witness of the Yuan family is named Liu Ji, and he is the owner of the passenger ship. He saw the face of the responder under the firelight, and because he was at a disadvantage, he heard People called him 'Li Lang', and they entered the backyard of Hanhai Restaurant together."
"Yuan Renhui and Yuan Jie were more cautious. They heard that Li Xiaoji was having a banquet at Hanhai Restaurant at noon yesterday, so they took Liu Ji to identify and see if the so-called 'Li Lang' was Li Xiaoji. It turned out that this was not the same as Li Xiaoji. Xiaoji had nothing to do with it, but when Li Xiaoji heard this person talking about Li Lang's appearance, he ordered his followers to kill the witness."
"Although Liu Ji is dead, I and others also have witnesses. In addition, Liu Ji's crew provided by the Yuan family also found the Hanhai Restaurant at noon. It was just a little later that when they arrived at the restaurant, Liu Ji was already dead He was killed by Li Xiaoji's entourage. This murder was witnessed by more than a dozen officers from the East Palace and more than a dozen singing girls."
When we arrived here, there was a sound of whispers in the hall. In fact, almost everyone knew about the incident that happened at Hanhai Restaurant at noon yesterday. However, there were too many rumors circulating, and the Henan Prefecture and the Xiaoguo Army blocked the restaurant and blocked the news, so there was no further information.
"Everyone calm down and listen to Lu Qing continue." Yang Guang asked everyone to calm down and said to Lu Chu: "Then what? Let's talk about the follow-up matters one by one."
"Here!" Lu Chu responded and said: "Based on the clues provided by witnesses, the ministers surrounded the Hanhai Restaurant and arrested them. Finally, they found the assassin and a large number of Liangzhou-made weapons from the huge cellar of the restaurant. arms."
"Witnesses, physical evidence, and assassins were all there, and the Henan Prefecture interrogated them one by one on the spot. However, when faced with the people and weapons in the cellar of Hanhai Restaurant, the store clerks all had no idea about the people and weapons in the cellar. They only said that this was a place where property and goods were stored. When they were moving things, they could only enter the outer room, and only the shopkeeper had the key to the inner room, so they never went in. After interrogating the shopkeeper again, the shopkeeper confessed that Li Shenfu had requisitioned the cellar in the past few days. He can’t even get into the cellar, and he doesn’t know what has been entered these days.”
"With these confessions, Henan Prefecture immediately arrested Li Shenfu and brought him back. At the same time, it was also discovered that Hanhai Restaurant was Li Shenfu's property."
At this point in the story, the finger points were pointed at Li Shenfu alone and Li Xiaoji, who killed Liu Ji, rather than the entire Li Yuan family. This made Yuan Wen a little bit uncontrollable. He was worried that if the investigation continued, only Li Shenfu and Li Xiaoji would be punished in the end, but Li Yuan, as the head of the family, could stay out of the matter, so he stood up and walked to the middle of the hall, bowed to Yang Guang and saluted: "Sage, can you let me say a few words? "
Yang Guang looked at him deeply, stretched out his hand and said, "Yuan Qing, please tell me."
"Thank you, saint!" Yuan Wendu thanked Yang Guang and said, "Sage, although Li Shenfu is from the Tang Guogong family, he has no official position and has never interacted with the Yuan Taifu. I don't think he is Dare to risk the disapproval of the world and assassinate an important minister of the court. There must be someone behind it, and Li Shenfu is just a scapegoat who was pushed to the front."
Yuan Wendu's words were deeply believed by all the civil and military officials in the Xuanzheng Palace; especially the officials who came from famous families, they felt that Yuan Wendu's words were reasonable, because they all came from the same famous family. Everyone knows that the rules and regulations of the major aristocratic families are strict and cruel, far exceeding the national law countless times.
The children in the family usually have small fights and fights, which are all innocuous and trivial matters, and the family does not pay much attention to them. However, no child can or dares to deal with such important matters as the rise and fall of the family, honor and disgrace, and safety. If you do it without permission, you will definitely be cleared out by the family, and whether it is expulsion or death, it is a responsibility that no one can bear. Therefore, without family instructions, the children of the aristocratic family dare not do big things rashly. Even if they want to do it, they must ask for instructions first.
The Li Shenfu in the case is Li Hu's grandson, and his father Li Liang is Li Hu's eighth son. When Li Liang was founded in the Sui Dynasty, the late emperor Yang Jian named him the Duke of Changshe County. However, he had been an official for so long, but he was only the chief official of Donghai County in Xuzhou. This is not to say that the court or a certain faction deliberately suppressed him, but that he has always performed mediocrely and has no dazzling political achievements so far. Therefore, he has been bouncing around among county-level officials and has never been promoted.
Li Liang's eldest son Li Shentong and second son Li Shenfu were never rewarded for their father's merits because of their father's incompetence and lack of dazzling achievements. As a result, the two brothers are still in vain, and they don't even have a casual official, let alone a title, a title, or a real job.
In addition, as the second son, Li Shenfu was unknown, unknown, accomplished nothing, and had not performed well for a long time. Therefore, everyone felt that he did not have the guts to assassinate Yuan Shou, the minister of Taifu Temple, on his own. His family was dragged into a desperate situation.
After deducing and sorting out everything one by one, everyone believed that there must be a mastermind behind Li Shenfu, and the mastermind behind him could not be the ordinary, mediocre and incompetent Li Liang, nor Li Shentong, who was also white. There is only one final answer, and that is Li Yuan, the head of the Li family.
If Li Yuan hadn't granted him such power, he wouldn't have dared to assassinate Yuan Shou without permission, because even the most naughty and bastard dude would not dare to do it despite the serious consequences.
After hearing what Yuan Wendu said, Yang Guang did not make any statement. He just said to Yuan Wendu: "Yuan Qing, I will give everyone a fair explanation. Please be patient for a moment and listen to what Lu Qing continues to say. .”
"I obey!" After hearing the emperor's words, Yuan Wen had to endure his impatience and silently retreated to the court. When he retreated, he took the opportunity to glance at Liu Changwen, only to find that Zhao Changwen was turning a deaf ear to him. Can't help but hang up.
Zhao Changwen is a member of the Zhao Gui family and has been on good terms with the Yuan family for generations. The Yuan family's actions after receiving the strange secret message were to pass Zhao Changwen first, and then everyone followed suit, and finally allowed the love to pass. It's going so fast.
In this case, the two parties reached a tacit cooperation. What the Yuan family wanted was to capture the real culprit and bring justice to Yuan Shou, so that they could carry out subsequent revenge. Once Zhao Changwen successfully breaks the case and breaks it quickly, he will gain fame and good reputation, which will lay a good foundation for his future promotion. Therefore, after he received the news provided by the Yuan family, he was ecstatic and actively cooperated with him. With.
However, Zhao Changwen is so cold now and never says a word. It can be seen that the case has undergone unpredictable and unexpected changes. Otherwise, he will definitely end up for his own fame, and then drag Li Yuan into these two assassinations. middle.
Lu Chu waited until Yuan Wendu retreated, and then said: "Sage, ministers, Li Shenfu all recognized it. He thinks everything is his idea."
After that, they introduced each one one by one.
Li Shenfu confessed to the crimes he committed; but the reason why he assassinated Yuan Shou and his son was that Yuan Shou had seized his two iron mines in Yong'an County, Jingzhou. Yuan Shou wanted to seize these two iron mines, which were rich in reserves and easy to mine. Mine, colluded with Wang Changxi, the deputy governor of the Southern Navy who was executed by the court, and killed the surrounding people who were working as miners.
Li Shenfu and the families of the murdered people had already reported this incident, but Wang Changxi colluded with local officials and eventually determined that the crime was committed by gangsters. At first they believed it to be true, but when the imperial court was purging officialdom in Jingzhou and the Southern Navy, they found the activity tracks of "bandits" who were actually navy officers, and determined that Wang Changxi was responsible.
Although the court gave justice to the people, the two mines were given to Yuan Shou by Wang Changxi not long after the miners encountered "bandits". Li Shenfu was unable to obtain the goods due to repeated requests and purchases, so he became angry. Next, I will use this method to seek justice for myself.
The main reason why the arrows made in Liangzhou were lost was because the Liangzhou arrows were easy to use and had amazing lethality. This was not to blame Yang Ji at all; of course, he did not deny his intention to "direct trouble eastward". Finally, he bit back and said that all the Yuan family's iron ingots flowed to Goguryeo and the Turks.
As Lu Chu told Li Shenfu's confession one by one, there was an uproar in the palace again, and the eyes he looked at Yuan Wendu changed.
Yuan Wendu was also flustered after hearing this. The Yuan family's buttocks were not clean and they couldn't withstand the investigation at all. If the court follows Li Shenfu's confession and investigates it one by one, the trouble will be even greater, and the punishment he will face will be countless times more severe than that of the Li family.
