When Li Shimin saw that someone had arrived, he ordered Chen Zhong to stand by.
"My lords, I think you may have misunderstood each other."
Everyone in the hall was surprised when they heard this.
"What is your Majesty's intention? Logically speaking, shouldn't your Majesty be helping the princes of Jingzhou to refute our Yizhou nobles? Why do you say it is a misunderstanding..."
"No, is it possible that His Majesty was inspired by this trip and wants to compromise with us Yizhou people?"
Everyone saw that His Majesty did not seize the opportunity to suppress the people of Yizhou as usual, but instead said words of goodwill to everyone. They all whispered to each other and guessed His Majesty's intentions.
Li Shimin stretched out his hand to calm down the commotion in the hall, and said with a smile on his face:
"I am not a fatuous king. I only know how to use nepotism and suppress dissidents. I got different opinions on this matter from several prisoners in the hall, so I feel that there seems to be some misunderstanding."
After saying this, Li Shimin stood up and walked down the steps, stood in front of several jailers and jailers, and said sternly:
"Say what you said before the court meeting again in front of a full hall of civil and military officials. Let everyone understand the merits of it."
After several people heard this, they first made eye contact, and then a jailer said on behalf of them:
"Reporting to your majesty, what we did before was not intentional. After we explain the matter clearly, I hope your majesty can be lenient and spare our lives!"
Li Shimin pretended to be unhappy and said:
"You have committed a crime, and you don't think about doing meritorious service and resolving misunderstandings for the court ministers. Instead, you first think about how to pray for life. What are your intentions?"
When the jailer saw that His Majesty was scolding him, his eyes flashed with approval, knowing that he had performed the drama well.
So he pretended to be frightened, knelt down and kowtowed, and then said with a slight cry:
"I don't dare, your Majesty, calm down!"
After speaking, the man calmed down and continued:
"At first, when Yang Yi was in prison, she just sat and meditated every day, and we never took any action.
Until half a month ago, Yang Yi's mood began to fluctuate, and she would often cry out for injustice at night, which disturbed our peace.
As time went by, we all felt resentful, so we ridiculed Yang Yi in front of him every day, and sometimes even withheld Yang Yi's food privately.
A few days ago, Yang Yi finally couldn't stand it anymore and asked us for help in pen and ink to report to the imperial court. We couldn't make up our minds, so we had to report it to our superiors.
Unexpectedly, when the report was reported to the county government, the county governor Lu Yi called us in, scolded us bloody, and ordered no one to see Yang Yi privately, and only waited for His Majesty to take action.
We held a grudge and happened to be on duty that night, so we took turns telling Yang Yi's crimes in Yang Yi's ears all night long.
Yang Yi was strong and arrogant, and could not bear the insults from people of low status. After writing his last words in eight characters on the wall, he banged his head against the wall and died.
Later, we were afraid that Shangguan would investigate, so we all agreed on the same story and insisted that Yang Yi had met Lu Yi before his death and that the two had talked in secret.
This matter was learned by Wang Li, the military governor, who thought that Lu Yi was having an affair with Yang Yi, so he brought the matter to court..."
When the princes of Yizhou in the hall heard this, they were all shocked and looked at Wang Li secretly.
Wang Li knew that everyone was checking to see if he knew the weaknesses of several jailers and whether the jailers would reveal the forgery of documents.
Wang Li was already very thoughtful, so when he saw everyone's questioning looks, he put on a confident look and nodded silently.
Only then did everyone feel relieved. Regardless of whether they could attack the princes of Jingzhou, at least the Yizhou nobles could not be implicated again.
After the gentlemen whispered to each other briefly, Li Shimin said loudly:
"This is what I understand. What the jailer said twice is consistent.
I think that if the jailer has revealed everything, the case of Yang Yi's suicide can only be regarded as "the jailer instigated Yang Yi to commit suicide". There is nothing wrong with you and others in the hall.
I wonder what you think of this matter? Do you want the case to be finalized, or do you want to continue to interrogate the jailer and get to the bottom of it? "
Your Majesty's previous words were all normal, but when the Dukes of Yizhou heard your Majesty's question, "Should we continue to interrogate the jailers?", they each felt panicked.
They all knew that the jailer had many things that he had not said yet, but they only spoke like this because Wang Li coerced and bribed him.
If we insist on continuing the investigation and establishing the truth about Lu Yi's meeting with Yang Yi, then the princes of Yizhou will also bear the risk that the jailer will not be able to withstand the interrogation and confess that Wang Li and others forged documents.
The princes of Yizhou in the hall were all silent after being signaled by Qiao Zhou, Du Qiong, Li Fu and others.
At this time, Du Qiong saw that all the princes in Yizhou were in agreement, so he went out and said:
"Your Majesty, I believe that this matter is indeed a misunderstanding.
There was really no need for Lü Yi to personally risk going to prison to have an affair with Yang Yi, thereby arousing suspicion. Moreover, both of them were from Jingzhou, so Lü Yi had no motive to instigate Yang Yi to commit suicide.
This incident was probably done deliberately by several jailers and jailers who had grudges after being scolded by Lu Yi.
Now that the misunderstanding has been resolved, I would like to ask Your Majesty to severely punish the offenders!
'Encouraging murder, concealing facts, and falsely accusing court officials' are equivalent to 'bullying the emperor and disregarding superiors'. According to the law, he should be beheaded and his house ransacked, and his whole family should be exiled! "
Several jailers and guards in the hall couldn't help but tremble when they heard this.
I thought to myself that it was a good thing that I had defected to His Majesty earlier, otherwise with the temperament of Du Qiong and other Yizhou nobles, I would most likely be silenced after the incident was completed.
Wang Li, Yang Xi, Liu Shen, and He Zhi saw that Du Qiong was so ruthless, and they were all glad that they had chosen the right direction and submitted to His Majesty. The belief in supporting His Majesty is even stronger.
Li Shimin glanced at the princes in the hall and saw that everyone was immersed in thought after hearing Du Qiong's words.
Especially the Dukes of Yizhou, their eyes were in a trance and their faces were filled with fear.
Everyone had opinions on Du Qiong's words.
After everyone had finished thinking, Li Shimin slowly walked back to the dragon bed and said with his hands behind his back:
"Except Du Qiong, do the other gentlemen have different opinions?"
At this time, He Zong suddenly walked out of the train and said:
"Your Majesty, I have a different opinion."
Du Qiong and other people in Yizhou were shocked when they heard that He Zong had different opinions.
After the Yizhou princes made eye contact, they all agreed to reply to His Majesty on behalf of Du Qiong and do as Du Qiong said.
Unexpectedly, He Zong came out to express different opinions at this time.
Li Fu was closest to He Zong. When he saw that He Zong wanted to express different opinions, he quickly winked at He Zong in an attempt to shut up He Zong.
But He Zong seemed to have already made up his mind and turned a blind eye to the reminders of Li Fu and others.
Li Shimin was also surprised at this time, so he said with great interest:
"Oh? Since Da Honglu has great opinions, I should listen attentively."
He Zong stood still in the main hall, then held the Chao Hut in his hand, straightened his body and said:
"Reporting to your Majesty, I think that Mr. Taichang's handling of this matter was slightly inappropriate."
Without waiting for everyone's reaction, He Zong continued:
"Since the late emperor, all our people in Sichuan have advocated benevolence and virtue. Although the laws are very strict, there are few capital punishments in the court.
In the previous case of Ma Qi, Your Majesty was able to follow the advice of his ministers and receive a lenient sentence. Why did he impose severe punishment on a few jailers who wanted to confess their crimes and atone for their crimes?
I believe that Your Majesty should treat everyone equally and treat several jailers lightly as appropriate.
Just get rid of your position and be exiled to the frontier. There is no need to kill people wantonly.
Otherwise, it will only endanger the self-esteem of the officials and people in Shu, and damage His Majesty's prestige and the reputation of the court. "
As soon as this statement came out, everyone in the hall, including Li Shimin, was greatly surprised.
A few days ago, He Zong was still outside the gate of the city, suggesting that His Majesty deal with Zhang Yan because of the grievances of the people.
Why is He Zong talking about love for several unrelated little people now?
Du Qiong, Qiao Zhou, Li Fu and other leading opposition figures in Yizhou all looked fierce and resentful of He Zong's actions.
A Yizhou official actually opposed a member of his own faction and was concerned about His Majesty's prestige. Isn't this obviously going against the princes of Yizhou?
He Zong also knew that these words would push him to the forefront, but He Zong had his own calculations in his heart.
So He Zong did not make eye contact with the Yizhou princes, but silently returned to the train.
Li Shimin originally thought about how to operate in secret and release several jailers and guards privately as promised.
Now He Zong actually gave him a step up, which surprised Li Shimin.
After Li Shimin calmed down, he said seriously:
"Do you have anything else to say, gentlemen?"
Seeing no one in the hall answered, Li Shimin sat back on the dragon couch and continued:
“Now that the truth about Yang Yi’s matter has been revealed, there is indeed a misunderstanding between the princes of Jingzhou and Yizhou.
The matter will end here. All six prisoners in the hall will be relieved of their duties and exiled to Wudu County with immediate effect. "
As soon as this order came out, several jailers and guards breathed a sigh of relief. His Majesty finally kept his promise and saved his life and property.
Wang Li and other people who had recently joined His Majesty were all relieved. His Majesty followed his words and did not betray or embarrass himself in the court.
At this time, in the court hall, some people were happy and some were sad.
The happy ones were Wang Li and others who defected to His Majesty because of this incident, as well as the jailers and jailers who had bet on their future.
Naturally, the Yizhou nobles who were busy working in vain were worried, especially leaders such as Du Qiong, who were even more dissatisfied.
After the dynasty ended, Li Shimin rushed into the palace to replenish the energy lost these days.
The princes of Yizhou surrounded He Zong outside the gate of Honglu Temple and asked He Zong what he wanted to say in the court hall. There was a strong tendency to eat He Zong alive if he couldn't say a single word!
