"Boom."
At Maozheng, the sun was rising and morning drums were ringing in Chang'an. Ji Wen stood up and followed the envoy to the lobby.
There was sadness on his face and his eyes were red, because just two-quarters of an hour ago, he learned that his filial and intelligent eldest son had died.
Before getting the news, he actually had no worries.
Although there was chaos in Chang'an at night, he just investigated the wrong person when handling the case. It was not the first time. He had already handled hundreds of unjust, false and wrong cases.
As for the unjustly accused Yang Shenjin, so what?
When Wei Jian was investigated by him, he was also the censor Zhongcheng. He also held several positions such as Shangshu of the Ministry of punishment and water transport envoy. He was only one step away from becoming the prime minister.
Although Ji Wen is a low-level official in green robes, the high-ranking officials in Fei Zi are also his prisoners. This is because he knows the intentions of the right prime minister, and the right prime minister has become more and more disgusted with Yang Shenjin recently.
Only the news of his son's death made Ji Wen suddenly realize that something was wrong.
There is a conspiracy!
Years of prison experience made him smell the terrible smell of danger, and a chill ran down his spine. He forced himself to calm down from the grief of losing his son, and had a premonition that there would be a torment next.
He must win...
~~
The saint no longer goes to court in the morning, and all state affairs are entrusted to Li Linfu. Therefore, every morning and evening, officials will go to the Youxiang Mansion to wait for an audience, just like a small court meeting.
Today's meeting in the lobby was just a meeting among the right prime minister's confidants for discussion.
When Ji Wen walked into the hall, Li Linfu hadn't arrived yet, and there were already several people in the hall.
"Ji Facao is here, my condolences."
Everyone was relieved. Ji Wen responded to these false feelings and glanced around the lobby. He saw Luo Xishi, the chief registrar of the Yushitai, standing there, so he went over to chat in a low voice.
Luo Xishi was wearing a light green official robe. Although he was only about thirty years old, he already had a majestic and fierce aura.
He is as famous as Ji Wen, and the two are known as "Luo Cong Ji Wang". Luo Cong is the censor, responsible for impeachment and prosecution; Ji Wang is the Fa Cao, responsible for arrests and interrogations. The two cooperated with each other and had a perfect understanding.
"Someone wants to harm me." Ji Wen whispered: "The four attacks were all aimed at me. It is definitely not an accident."
Luo Xishi quickly glanced behind the screen and responded in a low voice: "Don't worry, no one can harm us in the Right Prime Minister's Mansion."
Ji Wen did not expect to receive such warm words and comfort from a cruel official in difficult times, and he couldn't help but be deeply moved.
Then, someone entered the hall. Ji Wen looked around and saw that it was Xue Bai, and there was a hint of coldness in his eyes.
"This kid has been everywhere all night. Do you need to say something?"
~~
Xue Bai stood in the corner, not looking at Ji Wen, but observing other officials.
He has now learned to judge the rank by the color of the official robe, and knows that light green is the seventh rank, so he recognized Luo Xishi who was standing side by side with Ji Wen, and looked at him without avoiding the fierce look. .
Several more people arrived later.
Xue Bai met Yang Shenjin in Dali Temple. This Yushi Zhongcheng was wearing a dark red official robe and three long strands of beard. He was a middle-aged handsome man. After entering the hall, he did not hide the anger on his face and went straight to the palace. I sat on the bench in the front row.
After Yang Zhao arrived, he casually comforted Ji Wen and immediately went to greet Yang Shenjin.
"Yang Zhongcheng Ankang, I was lucky enough to see your beautiful concubine's pearl last night. I miss it so much. I wonder if you can give it to me as a gift?"
Xue Bai looked over and saw that the anger on Yang Shenjin's face was getting stronger. He thought that the red-robed official was about to have an attack.
Yang Shenjin just raised his hand and waved it, and responded calmly: "Yang Canjun, I'm sorry, it's inconvenient to send it off."
Yang Zhao was stunned.
Seeing that Yang Shenjin didn't dare to come forward last night, he obviously wanted to swallow his anger. The beautiful concubine Pearl couldn't be saved anyway, so he might as well be a favor, so he said a few kind words for Yang Shenjin.
Unexpectedly, Yang Shenjin couldn't let go of her arrogance today and actually refused to give it away.
Yang Zhao then snorted coldly, glanced left and right, and stood on Ji Wen's side.
Xue Bai was curious about who Yang Shenjin wanted to attack with his angry face. It can't be for Li Linfu.
After a while, the right minister's confidants all arrived.
Xue Bai finally identified who Wang Fei was among the crowd, which was somewhat unexpected.
The king who was feared by everyone looked very humble. After seeing Yang Shenjin, he bowed his back slightly, called "cousin" and stood respectfully behind Yang Shenjin.
If it weren't for the arrogant and arrogant young king Zhun, the most evil young man in the capital, who called him "Grandpa" and he was the only one in the hall wearing a light red official robe, Xue Bai would have thought he was a minor official.
If you don't understand the official system of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Zhi seems to be just a doctor from the Ministry of Household Affairs, only a fifth-rank official.
The official system of the Tang Dynasty had titles, titles, honors, ranks, and dispatches. Wang Xiemenyin entered the official position with short qualifications and no lord to inherit, so his rank was indeed not high.
But in fact, the power of an official cannot be judged by his rank, but by his assignment.
For example, Du Youlin's Shanzan doctor, who is also a fifth-rank official, is only a casual official with no real power.
However, Wang Fei gained the trust of the sage. The sage thought that he was a capable minister and felt that he would be most at ease in entrusting matters to him, so he gave him a goldfish belt and a goldfish talisman. In just a few years, he was allowed to hold more than ten positions, all of them. Important positions, fat jobs.
Taxation, peace and purchase, public security, water transportation, palace construction, impeachment of officials, etc., the king and the emperor can intervene in half of the affairs of the court. Although he has not paid homage to the prime minister, it is not an exaggeration to call him "vice prime minister".
Such a powerful figure is feared by everyone in the government and the public.
But what shocked Xue Bai was Yang Shenjin's performance.
Yang Shenjin didn't get angry with Ji Wen, Yang Zhao and others who raided his villa just now. Instead, he dared to be rude to Wang Fei, calling him by his first name and speaking in an arrogant tone.
"Wang Fei! You also heard about what happened last night. Is this the friend you made?!"
"Cousin, calm down, my nephew is wrong."
Wang Fei actually admitted his mistake, as if he had handled the case last night.
Xue Bai noticed that as soon as Wang Fei spoke, the officials in the hall fell silent and waited with bated breath. Wang Xian bowed to admit his mistake, and the officials in the hall lowered their heads, as if they were the ones who had done something wrong.
Only Yang Shenjin turned a blind eye to this situation, or he was deliberately using his relationship with Wang Fei to show off to everyone.
Maybe they got along like this in the past twenty or thirty years. Maybe Wang Xie had received countless favors from him, which made him dare to teach his nephew like an uncle in the dignified Youxiang Mansion, even if this nephew got the sage and the Righteous Minister. Reliance on phase.
Ji Wen watched this scene coldly.
Although he had just experienced the pain of losing his son, he could not help but sneer slightly.
He was even more sure that he would not lose because he picked a good opponent from the beginning.
~~
The positions of everyone in the hall are a bit subtle.
On the right, Yang Shenjin was sitting at the top, Wang Xian, Wang Wen, and Wang Zhun were standing behind him, while Xue Bai, Guo Qianli, and several Jinwu Guard generals were standing below.
On the left side, there were many people standing.
But it's hard to say who is really on Wang Hetong's side.
~~
There was finally movement behind the screen, and Li Linfu arrived.
Immediately afterwards, a Qianniu Guard general hurried over and reported outside the door.
"Your Majesty, the murderer has been found."
Xue Bai was shocked, but there was some joy on his face, and he raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.
Yang Zhao reacted faster and already clapped his hands and shouted "Okay!"
The Qianniuwei general waited for a while and then said: "This man was injured in the northeast corner of Daozhengfang. He refused to be captured when being hunted and died."
"Continue the pursuit."
"Here."
Li Linfu said: "What do you think of everything last night?"
"Your Majesty." Ji Wen was well prepared and stood in the hall as if running away, saying: "The dead man in the East Palace was originally hidden in Yang Zhongcheng's villa..."
"Fart." Guo Qianli didn't notice the indecent choice of words and interrupted loudly: "You are telling lies with your eyes open. Many of my brothers have been searching all night. Do you know if there are any dead men in the East Palace? You dare... Who is the fool?"
Yang Zhao smiled. He didn't find any weapons anyway, and the result has been reported to the right minister. That's why I wanted to sell Yang Shenjin a favor today, but I didn't expect to be rejected.
But although Yang Shenjin was looking for death, Jiwen was indeed telling lies with open eyes, and even now he dared to fool the right prime minister.
"Please listen to my explanation." Ji Wen said quickly: "The dead men in the East Palace were indeed in the Yang family's villa. It was because someone leaked the news that they escaped early."
"who?"
"It must be Xue Bai!" Ji Wen raised his hand and pointed.
He had already prepared a draft and started talking about it immediately.
"Xue Bai colluded with the East Palace, and the person who helped him contact the East Palace was Prince Liangdi Du. I noticed this, so I temporarily kept Xue Bai in Jingzhao Mansion and sent people to detain Du. However, Han Chaozong helped Xue Bai left Jingzhao Mansion, so he led his men into my Xuanyangfang villa, took away the Du family, and notified the dead men in the East Palace to evacuate."
Ji Wen only received a report from his slave that someone was dead in the house. A young man and woman led two patrols and came in and robbed a beautiful woman.
The slave girl didn't even know who the beautiful woman was. At first, he thought she was a civilian girl that his son had snatched away. It was only in the Prime Minister's Palace that he heard that she was the daughter of Du Youlin.
He immediately used the intuition of a veteran in prison to determine that this was an opportunity to kill Xue Bai and Du Zhai.
Nothing else matters, what is the Prime Minister most afraid of?
——Collude with the East Palace.
Thinking about it this way, everything that happens next can be explained clearly.
"Xin Twelve must have been killed by the dead men of the East Palace in order to prevent this. After that, it must have been Xue Bai's secret guidance that made the dead men of the East Palace feel like they were in a deserted land, so that more than 30 people died overnight. ! Even my son...my son..."
At this point, Ji Wen choked up for a while and cried: "I beg you, Prime Minister, to allow me to detain Yang Shenjin and Xue Bai for interrogation!"
Luo Xixi raised his head, his eyes brightened, and echoed: "Right Prime Minister, what Ji Facao said is reasonable and reasonable, the truth is out!"
Yang Shenjin and Xue Bai were both calm, silently waiting for Li Linfu to ask questions.
"Shen Jin, what do you have to say?"
"I've searched and searched. Your Prime Minister thinks that I have set up another house to harbor the dead men of the East Palace. I have nothing to say."
Yang Shenjin did not wink, but there was an ironclad fact.
Li Linfu deliberately sighed and said: "You are a waste raised by me."
It is true that he doesn't like Yang Shenjin recently, but after all, he is one of his own, which does not mean that he will get rid of him immediately.
This time, after listening to Ji Wen's report, he really thought he had found the dead man from the East Palace. After searching, I can only say that I am so disappointed in Jiwen!
When has it been? The saint is over sixty years old. In order to ascend to the throne, he curried favor with Concubine Wu Hui and devoted himself to helping King Shou ascend to the throne. He once designed the former prince and personally created the three concubine cases, causing the saint to kill three sons in one day.
If Li Heng is allowed to ascend the throne someday, he will be able to kill everyone!
Worried, worried.
But what is Jiwen doing? The case of Wei Jian was handled, but the East Palace was unscathed. Jiwen has been making money for a whole year, isn't it enough? How dare you tease him for being a fool when everything happened last night!
"Xue Bai, you said."
Xue Bai was filled with indignation and said: "Ji Wen has been in charge of the prison for many years, and his ability to organize crimes is too great. I accept my fate and am willing to die."
He seemed to realize that he couldn't defeat Ji Wen, so he just threw it all away.
But his attitude was different from that of Yang Shenjin. Yang Shenjin was just showing off to Li Linfu, while Xue Bai was just a young man with a young heart and was pissed off by Ji Wen.
"I'll let you tell me the truth."
"Yes, Ji Wen wanted to detain Crown Prince Liangdi Du, but why didn't he take Du Erniang instead of Du Auntie? When I came out of Jingzhao Mansion, the Yang family's house was already surrounded. How to notify the dead men to move? "
The more he talked, the angrier he became. At the end of his speech, Xue Bai simply refused to explain and turned to attack Ji Wen.
"Also, Ji Wen said, 'The soldiers who died in the East Palace are like entering a deserted land.' When I walked to Dongshi, I saw with my own eyes that he had just encountered a few people who died in the East Palace, and then he fled with more than 20 people on flying horses. Yes, if you catch the thief like this, you will never be able to catch him in your lifetime!"
With these last striking words, Guo Qianli couldn't bear it any longer and jumped to his feet and shouted: "Right Prime Minister! Ji Wen is a waste, a big waste! I will be pissed to death by him! There are dozens of Jinwu Guards who can testify to this." !”
Ji Wen defended: "I only have a group of right Xiao guards to escort me, and it was your Jinwu guards who escaped with me..."
"Everyone saw you escaping! The general doesn't understand. What's the point of talking about such an obvious thing? I searched and searched, but finally found it. I couldn't even delay it for a moment. With a waste like you , how can we overthrow the Eastern Palace?! All of us have offended the crown prince of a country, just to let you use sacks to carry treasures? When that day comes, my whole family will be killed sooner or later by you, a loser like you, ugh!"
"Guo Qianli!" Ji Wen was furious, pointed at Guo Qianli and screamed, "I think you are also colluding with the East Palace!"
"Why do you say that I colluded with the East Palace?!"
"You Longyou soldier... I have long suspected that you are from the East Palace!"
What Ji Wen said was actually referring to Guo Qianli's character, character, resume, etc., which is indeed not like that of the Right Prime Minister.
"You just said, 'wait until that day'. What day did you say that was?! Under the East Palace Gate."
"Fuck you!" Guo Qianli was furious.
"you……"
"Fuck your mother! You open your mouth and fart!"
"Right Prime Minister! Look at him..."
"Chicken tongue plague, stop talking nonsense, come and fight! I'll chop you up!"
After Guo Qianli cursed a few times, a guard from the Prime Minister's Mansion came forward and dragged him out.
"Right Prime Minister!" Guo Qianli cried sadly: "Why delay the last general?! The last general speaks the truth, the last general is loyal to the right minister!"
"Right Prime Minister! I will never tell a lie!"
"..."
The sound got farther and farther, and it was unclear where he was being dragged.
But being able to be dragged out shows that he has reported everything that should be reported. Li Linfu also believes that what he said is the truth, and there is no need to keep him in the hall to scold his mother.
The same is true for Jiaonu. Although she was not in the hall, what she saw and heard must have been relayed to Li Linfu.
It is precisely because Guo Qianli and Jiaonu told the truth, otherwise Ji Wen's analysis just now would have killed Xue Bai.
The confrontation must continue.
Xue Bai became excited when he saw Guo Qianli being dragged away.
"Ji Wen! You said that I colluded with Dong Palace, and you found out the dead men of Dong Palace? You are such a mess, and you are a waste who stays in Jingzhao Mansion all day long to draw names. How can you find out that I have colluded with Dong Palace? Is Dong Palace colluding?! I’ll go to hell with you..."
"Presumptuous! Xue Bai, you are too presumptuous!"
As soon as Li Linfu opened his mouth to drink, Xue Bai immediately stopped his voice honestly, lowered his head, and muttered: "Right Prime Minister, I have nothing to say, just let Ji Wen bury me alive."
