Beside the pillars of the Xuanzheng Hall, Lu Zuo stood there, very inconspicuous. When the Han Emperor asked questions, everyone's eyes fell on Lu Zuo.
When Lu Zuo asked, he walked out of class slowly, bowed deeply, and said: "What the Prime Minister said is not unreasonable, but there is no direct evidence to prove that Gao Han is guilty. How can he be easily thrown into prison and judged guilty? The people's mouths are blocked in this way. , but after all, this is just a muddled escape, and the person involved has become a scapegoat. When the people finally know the whole story, how can His Highness's actions convince the public? I am afraid that it will be counterproductive and arouse deeper public resentment. "
After hearing this, Prince Liu Yan's palms were sweating, but he couldn't defend himself.
Master Quan, Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, moved his bloated body out of the classroom and said: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince just wanted to temporarily put Gao Han in prison and conduct a detailed investigation. He just didn't expect that Gao Han would commit suicide. This matter cannot be completely blamed. To His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Xu Bingde, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, also came out and continued: "Master Quan is right, and Gao Han can't think about it in prison. If he is not afraid of crime, then why should he commit suicide?"
Emperor Han smiled coldly, "So, the prince is not guilty, but he is meritorious?"
"Your Majesty!" Li Shizhi said, "Now that this matter has happened, Gao Han should appoint someone to investigate the matter again, regardless of whether he is guilty or not."
"Then Li Aiqing will be solely responsible for this matter..."
The Emperor of the Han Dynasty changed the topic and was about to talk about another matter when Cui Hao, the Minister of Punishment, suddenly came out and said: "This matter must not be left to the Prime Minister."
Suddenly there was an uproar in the hall, and everyone looked at Cui Hao. They didn't expect that Cui Hao was so courageous and dared to challenge himself. Even Li Shizhi secretly glanced at Cui Hao for no reason.
Emperor Han also looked at Cui Hao with some surprise. He knew that although he was still young and had low qualifications, he had always been upright, but he would not dare to contradict his boss, so he asked curiously: "Where do you start talking about this? "
Cui Hao's eyebrows tightened, and he breathed a sigh of relief unnoticeably, as if he was making the last ditch effort, thinking that he must complete the task assigned by Prince Ning this time, and he could not miss such a good opportunity again. He paused and then said: " The Prime Minister deceives the superiors and deceives the subordinates, and is accustomed to using tricks to change the situation. How can he take on such a big responsibility?"
"Bold..."
Emperor Han couldn't help but said angrily. Li Shizhi also trembled, not because of Cui Hao's false accusation, but because he was frightened by the Han Emperor.
Some officials who were usually close to Li Shizhi also criticized Cui Hao, "You, a junior, have only been in the Ministry of Justice for a few years, and you are so rude..." and another said, "Your Majesty, please drive Cui Hao out immediately. Go to the palace..." The palace instantly seemed to explode with excitement. Li Shizhi felt a little proud when he saw that many courtiers were speaking for him. The leader, Prince Liu Yan, saw that what had happened just now was over, and he didn't care who they were talking about, and as his uncle, he never had any leverage in other people's hands. Let them say that this Cui Hao wanted to come. He is also a member of Prince Ning, and everyone adds insult to injury, just to blame him.
Emperor Han was originally furious and wanted to vent his anger on Cui Hao, but seeing the officials reacting so fiercely made him a little surprised and disgusted. Therefore, Emperor Han was interested in hearing Cui Hao's explanation, "Cui Hao , please tell me the reason, if not, I will convict you of falsely accusing your colleagues and banish you to a deserted island."
Cui Hao said calmly: "This matter has to start with Master Du, the imperial censor. It is the Prime Minister who reported last year."
Du Zongting? Almost everyone had the same reaction, and everyone's eyes fell on Du Zongting again. Du Zongting broke out in a cold sweat and said awkwardly: "What does this... have to do with me?"
Liu Yan was also curious, now that Du Zongting was his own, could he also betray him?
Emperor Han asked with great interest: "How do you say this?"
When everyone was confused, Cui Hao continued: "It was last year that Mr. Du accused the Prime Minister of engaging in malpractice for personal gain in the trial of Wu Qingfeng. There were originally 124 people on the Zhubi list to be executed, but when the execution was carried out, , three people are missing, and three of them are the Prime Minister operating from behind the scenes."
After Cui Hao said this, the courtiers were in an uproar with different expressions. They didn't expect that Cui Hao would bring up the old matter again and dare to offend the prime minister who was more powerful than one person in the dynasty. Moreover, the matter was based on rumors and there was no conclusive evidence. How could he have such courage? !
Du Zongting had heard that his legs were weak and the tip of his nose was sweating. This was already an old thing. At that time, King Liu Xu of Wei was still alive, and each had his own master, so he had no choice but to attack Prime Minister Li Shizhi. At that time, the Emperor of Han did not pursue the case. , and also promoted Li Shizhi to the position of prime minister. Cui Hao clearly used himself to bring up this matter again and used himself as a shield.
Lu Zuo was even more shocked. Cui Hao wanted to sue Prime Minister Li. Why didn't he discuss it with him? Is this what Prince Ning meant?
The Han Emperor had an imperceptible smile on his lips, but the corners of his lips were still raised slightly, pretending to be serious: "There is no real evidence for this matter. As the Minister of Punishment, you slandered your superiors, Cui Hao! You should know the consequences, right?"
Cui Haowei bowed and continued: "Although this case has been going on for many years, when I was looking through the old files of the Ministry of Justice recently, I accidentally discovered that there were many flaws in the file, which is really unbelievable! I remember last year when Mr. Du accused the Prime Minister of presiding over the case. , saying that he released three people privately, but the number of heads recorded in the case file is not less, but there is one place in the file of the Ministry of Punishment that records something different."
"What's the difference?"
"There are very few written records in the file. It is recorded in the volume: 'In the autumn of the eleventh year of Yuanheng, Dongping Hou Liuchang impeached Wu Qingfeng, the military governor, for using power for personal gain, plotting evil, and intending to rebel. The emperor ordered Li Shizhi, the minister of Dali Temple, to preside over the trial. August 18, All one hundred and twenty-four members of the Wu clan were imprisoned. After verification, they were beheaded on August 23 for public display. There is an additional note at the back of this file that says, "The one hundred and twenty-four corpses were intact, and the three heads were all bloody." identify'."
The Han Emperor was confused and asked: "There are three heads that are difficult to identify? Could it be that someone had been tortured before?"
Cui Haodao: "I thought so too, but I found in the file of another case that three criminals disappeared on August 22nd of the same year."
"Missing?" Emperor Han asked in confusion, "Who is missing?"
"Three mothers and sons are missing. A widowed mother ordered her two sons to steal the cattle from the next door family and was caught. The time of arrest happened to be August 18th, and the time of disappearance was also Wu Qingfeng's. The day before the interrogation and execution." Cui Hao said without changing his expression.
