Love Affairs in Chang'an - Chapter 110

Chapter 110 The Tree Is Deeply Rooted
In the next few days, Qin Mubai inspected several dams and tested the rice bags used to build the embankment, further confirming that his deduction was correct.

The flood in Jiangzhou was indeed a natural disaster, but someone used this natural disaster to make a huge fortune and tried to cover up the previous charge of embezzlement of flood control funds. Among them, someone was murdered.

This was already a heaven-shaking case in the Great Tang of Zhenguan in the peaceful era of Lang Lang and Qian Kun!

A few years ago, the Great Tang of Zhenguan had set a record for the rule of law in Chinese history-only 29 people had been sentenced to death in the whole year of the country!

Three years ago, on the fourth day of the ninth month of the eighth year of Zhenguan Temple, there was even a strange news that shook the world. On that day, not a single one of the more than 300 death row prisoners who had been sent home by Li Shimin for the New Year and had participated in the spring plowing and autumn harvest was absent. They all returned to death row and prepared to die on the execution ground!

The reason for this was that there was a custom in the Great Tang that all executions must be personally approved by the emperor and carried out in the autumn. Moreover, Li Shimin had to patrol the prison before issuing the death penalty. Whenever a prisoner cries out for redress, no matter how well-founded the case may be, the Martial Temple must push it back for a retrial in order to avoid accidentally killing a good person.

On that day, Li Shimin patrolled the prisoners, and not a single one of the three hundred death row inmates cried out for redress. Li Shimin was quite surprised at that time. Why were there so many prisoners on death row this year compared to 29 in the previous two years? Aren’t these people afraid of death? Seeing that most of these prisoners were young and middle-aged, Li Shimin suddenly had a fantasy and decided to let these prisoners go home to reunite with their families for the New Year. He also took part in the spring farming next year and made an agreement with them that they would return to their cells to receive their punishment in the autumn of the following year.

That sounds like a fantasy. However, a year later, all three hundred death row inmates returned to their cells. After enjoying the last year of their lives with their families, these prisoners were all grateful and willing to die, touching everyone on the spot, including Li Shimin. Li Shimin immediately pardoned them and let them all go home

The Great Tang of Zhenguan had always been politically clear and in good order, and had always advocated “prudent punishment”. The crime rate is also fairly low. However, such a horrible incident had happened in Jiangzhou. I really don’t know how Li Shimin and the 300-odd death row prisoners would feel when they found out about it.

After a few days of secretly investigating and gathering evidence, Qin Mubai had already figured out everything about the case. So he went to Li Ke and the two of them talked in secret.

Qin Mubai first told Li Ke all the evidence and deductions he had found, and then asked Li Ke for his opinion, “Your Highness, is it time to capture these corrupt officials?”

“Not busy.” Li Ke was not in a hurry and waved his hand. “Recently, we have been busy with the resettlement of the victims and the reconstruction of our homes. All the officials in Jiangzhou Prefecture are doing their best. If they suddenly catch people now, they will definitely alarm the public. This is not conducive to the overall situation,” Li Ke said with a wave of his hand.

“Your Highness is right.” Qin Mubai said, “The officials of the local prefectures and counties are not as close as the officials of the capital. Their cooperation with each other is also very strong. If we really investigate people, I’m afraid that everyone will be implicated more or less.” I always feel that this place in Jiangzhou is not a small case. All of the officials here seemed to be tightly hugging each other, like a deep-rooted tree. Once we try to uproot a tree root, I’m afraid we’ll have to pull it all out. A tree originally didn’t have much strength, so it could be easily lifted. But it won’t be so easy if its roots are twisted and twisted in the soil. ”

“Well said.” Li Ke’s eyes shone brightly as he whispered, “I specially sent Quan Wanji to Jiangzhou City in the name of recruiting the madam of the people. Actually, it was to find out the background of Cheng Songnian, Ma Kun, and the others. As a result, I found something!”

“Is there anything special?” Qin Mubai asked.

“Yes. Furthermore, it’s extraordinary.” Li Ke said, “So Cheng Songnian and Ma Kun are not ordinary officials. Cheng Songnian, this small fifth-grade state governor, had a great background. More than ten years ago, he was a small official in the Yin Crown Prince’s Li Jianjianfu. After Father Emperor ascended to the throne, he did not purge and exterminate these people. Instead, he tried to appease them, and most of them were still employed. At that time, Cheng Songnian had been appointed county magistrate of Ji County for seven or eight years. Until five years ago, he did not know what kind of connections he had with the Marquis of Shengnan Prefecture in Jiangzhou, marrying his daughter to be his concubine. Then his official road smoothly swayed all the way until he became the governor of the state. “Mubai, do you know who this Marquis Shengnan is?”

“Who?”

“He’s my big brother–the Crown Prince’s wet nurse’s younger brother.” Li Ke smiled, “Don’t underestimate the nurse.” Most of the descendants of our royal family were brought up by wet nurses. Sometimes, their relationship with wet nurses is even more kissing than their biological mothers. In private, the Crown Prince greeted this Marquis of Shengnan and called him’uncle ‘! I treat my wet nurse’s son like a brother. Didn’t he get impeached because he gambled and hunted too madly with them last time? ”

“In that case, this place in Jiangzhou is really deep-rooted. It actually involves the Crown Prince!” Qin Mubai knitted his brows and recalled what the Emperor had told him back then. He suddenly understood. No wonder the Emperor’s words were so ambiguous. It turned out that he had long thought that this matter might have something to do with Marquis Shengnan, thus implicating the Crown Prince. The current storm was all about how disdainful the Crown Prince was, and the Emperor had the intention to cripple his standing. If this case involved the Crown Prince again, then it would be really sensitive. No wonder the emperor repeatedly told Li Ke and Qin Mubai not to be anxious to alarm the snakes. If there were any special circumstances, they had to play back to him first.

“This Ma Kun’s background isn’t small either!” Li Ke said, “A few years ago, he was just a small ordinary soldier, why did he suddenly rise so quickly, becoming a rank five commandant in charge of the military forces of the entire continent?” It turned out that Ma Kun was originally Cheng Songnian’s brother-in-law, and the two of them had worked together in the Yin Crown Prince’s Mansion back then. After the Black Warrior Sect, Ma Kun left the Crown Prince Yin’s Mansion and returned home to continue farming because he was an insignificant person. At most, he was an ordinary soldier. However, when Cheng Song made his achievements, he brought up his worshipped brother until he became the commandant of the Jiangzhou Prefecture. He and Cheng Songnian, each writing and one martial, in Jiangzhou can be said to be a hand to cover the sky. Coupled with Marquis Sheng Nan’s care in the capital, this place in Jiangzhou would become an indomitable country-of course, the king of this country was naturally Marquis Sheng Nan. Cheng Songnian and Ma Kun are only his accomplices. ”

“What an irony! A small Marquis of Shengnan dares to be so obedient!” Qin Mubai couldn’t help but sneer, “Your Highness, what are you planning to do now? If we report this, even though we don’t have any conclusive evidence, as long as the Emperor sends people from the Imperial History and the Dali Temple to investigate thoroughly, we will definitely be able to find out everything. At that time, we will be able to completely uproot this group of malignant tumors from Jiangzhou.”

“I know.” Li Ke knitted his eyebrows and revealed an ugly expression, “Actually, it’s not difficult to deal with the Marquis of Shengnan, Cheng Songnian, and the others.” Although they seem to be relatively powerful, they are at most worthy of running rampant in front of state and county officials. This king has yet to put them in his eyes. However … this matter concerned the Crown Prince, so he had no choice but to be cautious. Do you know that Father Emperor has always hated imperial relatives for breaking the law and using his status to cover up their misdeeds? Last time when I was impeached, one of the important reasons why Father was so angry and punished me so heavily was because he couldn’t bear to see me hanging out with my wet nurse’s sons. Emperor Father personally scolded me. As a royal, you must always think of safeguarding the dignity of the royal family and use your own body as your responsibility. The identity of a royal relative was not used to bully the upper echelons and suppress the lower echelons. This time, if he finds out that the Crown Prince’s wet nurse’s younger brother is so obedient and disrespectful … I’m not sure if the Emperor will use this as a pretext to play to the Crown Prince’s disadvantage. ”

“I understand your feelings.” Qin Mubai said, “Right now, the competition for the throne is getting fiercer and fiercer. The Crown Prince and King Wei’s camps are not allowed to attack each other. The Emperor is very angry about this, but there is no perfect solution for the time being, so they are all a little anxious.” If you suddenly join the Crown Prince’s book at this moment … then it would really make people feel free to think about it. The emperor and the officials would guess whether King Wu was helping King Wei fight for the throne, or if he wanted to jump out and get a piece of the pie? As the saying goes, melon fields do not accept boots, Li Xia does not win the whole crown. Even if you don’t have this intention, you won’t be able to escape suspicion at that time. “Once you get caught up in this torrent, it will be hard to predict what will happen.”

“That’s right.” Li Ke furrowed his brows and said, “If I don’t report it, it would also be a big crime to cover up the viciousness.” And because of this, he didn’t know what to do! In this case, there were Zhu Chengwen who had died an unknown death, the citizens of the two counties who had been poisoned by the flood, the treasury property that had been devoured by corrupt officials and worms, and the soldiers who had died in the flood relief. There are always countless vengeful souls wrapping around me in my sleep, and the corrupt officials seem to be waving their claws and shouting provocations at me-I am not willing to let them go no matter what! ”

“Your Highness, do you want a complete plan?” Qin Mubai said indifferently.

Li Ke’s eyes lit up and he was pleasantly surprised, “What’s Mubai’s plan?”

“Yes, there is, but it’s not necessarily very good. Furthermore, it seems to be somewhat stupid.” Qin Mubai smiled.

“Speak quickly!”

“If you want to do both, you have to start from the Emperor’s side.” Qin Mubai said, “Clearly, before the Emperor sent us to Jiangzhou, he had already vaguely sensed that there was a ghost in Jiangzhou.” Otherwise, he wouldn’t have kept a low profile and secretly ordered the two of us to secretly investigate and not be in a hurry to alert them. With the emperor’s usual thunderous style, this was very abnormal. Therefore, unless he had already guessed that this matter concerned the Crown Prince, he would not have done so. ”

“You’re right! Continue!”

Qin Mubai said, “I work in the harem. Every day, I come into contact with the emperor and the royal family and discover and summarize a characteristic of the emperor. I don’t know if I’m right or wrong. If I’m right, Your Highness, please continue listening to me. If you’re wrong, pretend you didn’t hear anything and we don’t need to continue discussing, okay?”

“Alright, tell me.” Li Ke decisively said, “You should understand my character. No matter how unbearable I am, I will not betray my friends!”