A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 638: Good at Killing
North of Fourth Street from Shuntianmen Street,

Dali Temple,
The dusk drum at the city gate of Chang'an Jing Street was still beating loudly, and Wu Huaiyu went straight to Dali Temple.

Sun Fujia, the minister of Dali Temple, is still in the office and may have to work overtime tonight.

"Tingwei, Mr. Wu is here." An aide came in to report.

Sun Fujia nodded, "It came very quickly."

He raised his head from the case, put down the case file in his hand, rubbed his head, feeling a little headache, but stood up to greet him.

He had had contact with Wu Huaiyu before, and he thought he was pretty good. When they were discussing the Zhenguan Law, he agreed with many of Wu Huaiyu's suggestions.

Outside the door, Wu Huaiyu was coming.

"Ji Qing!" Wu Huaiyu crossed his hands and saluted,
"Your Majesty." Sun Fuga returned the courtesy.

Wu Huaiyu got straight to the point, "I want to come and see my senior brother Su, where are they?"

"He is in Dali Prison." Sun Fujia hesitated, but still took Wu Huaiyu to see Su Lie in person.
"Thank you, Mr. Ji."

Sun Fujia smiled. He had a similar background as a minor official like Wu Huaiyu. His hometown was Qinghe, Hebei Province. He was studious at a young age and later became a local minor official. In the turmoil of the late Sui Dynasty, he later passed the Jinshi examination. After several promotions, he became the Wannian County official in the capital. Fa Cao.

After the change of dynasty, he also participated in the martial arts imperial examination and won the first prize in one fell swoop. After that, he made three consecutive mistakes, directly admonished the emperor and criticized the current affairs. Li Yuan promoted him to be the official secretary and censor.

Wu Huaiyu was born as a money-catching magistrate in Sanyuan County. Both of them had humble backgrounds. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties when they came from important families, such backgrounds would often make others laugh at them, but Wu Huaiyu's talents were extremely admired by Sun Fuga.

Of course, Sun Fujia actually sympathized with fellow countryman Su Lie regarding the matter of Su Lie and Hou Junji.

The Dali Temple Prison is located in the Dali Temple Yamen. The place is not big, but the small Dali Temple Prison is divided into several different prisons. There are male prisons and female prisons, and even the nobles and the humble are separated.

Su Lie was imprisoned in Sanpinyuan,

It is also commonly known as the Guiyuan. Those who committed crimes and were sent to Dali Prison were first imprisoned here. Those who were ministerial officials were above the third rank, casual officials were above the second rank and those who were the first rank. These were known as nobles in the Tang Dynasty. Even if they committed crimes, they would be treated preferentially. Yes, you can discuss it in eight ways.

Sun Fuga led Huaiyu to Sanpinyuan, which was actually a courtyard behind the Dali Temple Yamen. It didn't have the spookiness and horror of a prison at all.

The courtyard has three entrances and many houses.
When he entered the door, he found Su Lie drinking under the tree in the courtyard. He had wine and meat, and was even served by his entourage. He looked very uncomfortable. He didn't even change into his prison clothes. He was still wearing the purple robe and jade belt he wore when he was going to Youtun Guard Yamen today. .

"Senior brother!" Wu Huaiyu shouted.

Su Lie turned around and asked, "Why is Erlang here?"

In the courtyard, there is a tall thorn tree with lush leaves, a thick black trunk and a curved trunk. The whole body is covered with thorns. The thorn tree is also called the jujube tree. This is a tree that can be seen everywhere in Dali Temple.
Zhou Li records that a nine-thorn tree was erected to serve as the position of the high official, and the great ministers listened to the government under the thorn tree. Later, Dali Temple was specifically called Ji Temple, and the minister of Dali Temple was called Ji Qing, with red inside and thorns outside.

"Brother, are you okay?"

Wu Huaiyu came to the thorn tree,

"Sit down and have a drink with me." Su Lie was a little drunk.

Sun Fujia stood under the thorn tree on one side, just sitting quietly with him and not talking together.

"Brother, what's going on?"

Although Li Yifu told him what happened, he still came here specially to hear Su Lie's side of the story. Tomorrow morning, the prime minister and the three ministers would discuss the matter, so he had to be confident.

Su Lie picked up the wine glass and drank the wine in one gulp.

He let out a long sigh, his eyes were red, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Hou Junji deliberately killed my son with a stick, and I beat him up in anger."

"You have also seen Su Wang, Erlang, who was beaten to death today."

"Is it Su Wang?"

Wu Huaiyu knew Su Wang, a tall and brave young man, a little older than Huaiyu. He was originally an orphan among the refugees who was about to starve to death. His parents and family all starved to death. Later, Su Lie gave him a pancake to survive.

Later, he stayed at Sulie Zhuangzi. He was only ten years old that year, which was the 12th year of Daye.This year, Su Dingfang went to join Dou Jiande. They first pretended to surrender to Zhuo County to guard Guo Xuan, and then led [-] elite troops to attack Guo Xuan and ten thousand people, beheading Guo Xuan and defeating the Sui army.

In that battle, Su Wang followed Su Lie to the battlefield and snatched a few horses. Later, he and Su Lie accompanied Dou Jiande to defeat Yang Yichen, Xue Shixiong and others.
"Su Wang has followed me since he was ten years old. This year is his 15th year. From being a servant leading horses, to being a soldier of the tribe, to being adopted as an adopted son, he is loyal and loyal. He has even blocked swords and guns for me on the battlefield. Countless times. Saved my life once,

In this Northern Expedition to the Turks, Su Wang also led the charge in the battle of Baidaochuan and rushed to Qikou. Su Wang was still the vanguard and chased into the desert. He was also one of the three hundred riders. "

The more Su Lie talked, the more he hated it.

"Su Wang also made illustrious military exploits for the Tang Dynasty. He recorded his merits in the camp and prepared seven rounds of honors in the honor book. He came with me to Chang'an to pay homage to the emperor, but he died on Chang'an Street and was killed by Hou Junji with a living stick. Is this justified? ?”

Wu Huaiyu didn't expect that it was Su Wang who died.

Su Wang is not only Su Lie's adopted son, he also holds a military position, starting from the eighth rank of brigade commander.When the imperial title is awarded, Su Wang can at least be promoted to the rank of Colonel Qi due to his achievements in the Northern Expedition.

This is indeed an inconspicuous small school in Chang'an City, but he is also a military attache and not a slave. Hou Junji actually killed him in the street with a stick.

"Su Wang did not ride his horse on Chang'an Avenue, nor did he intentionally rush into the prime minister's guard of honor. He was just trying to save the people who were about to be trampled by the frightened horse,"

Su Lie was angry.

What happened was that Hou Jun gathered the entourage who was leading the way in the ceremonial guard and drove him to the roadside with a whip. As a result, the horse of a passerby was startled. Su Wang came to rescue him and the man was saved. However, the horse knocked down a man in the ceremonial guard who was shouting five hundred. The man was just He fell down and was not injured.

But Hou Junji wanted to be beaten with a stick.

When Su Lie came forward to plead for mercy, Hou Junji not only showed no mercy to the senior brother, but instead ridiculed and insulted Su Lie. He even scolded Li Jingwu and Huaiyu together, and also gave Su Wang twenty more sticks, deliberately killing him. With his hand, he can kill the person directly with a few blows. "Su Wangna has experienced dozens of battles. He has been with me for more than ten years. He crawled out of the dead on the battlefield. He once had his belly cut open and his intestines spilled out, but he didn't die.

Hou Junji, however, resorted to evil tactics and deliberately killed him with a stick several times. "

There is a basis for Su Lie's statement that he was killed with a stick because Hou Junji said in public that he deserved to be beaten to death. When his men beat Su Wang with a stick, one of his sticks also hit Su Wang directly on the back of the head. This blow directly killed him. Beaten to death.

Sun Fuga was listening next to him, and behind him were two officials from Dali Temple, taking notes on Huaiyu Sulie's conversation with pens and paper.

Although Sun Fuga had already inquired about the incident and made notes after Su Lie came in, he still recorded the meeting and conversation truthfully.

"What about the attacker?" Wu Huaiyu asked Sun Fujia.

"The ones who whipped Su Wang at that time were two Hou Xiangqin soldiers, and they are now in Wuhou Prison."

Wuhou Prison is the prison of Wuhou Wei.

The left and right Wuhou guards have the generals of the left and right Yifu, who are in charge of the palace and supervise the patrols on the left and right streets of the capital. The left and right street envoys are responsible for patrolling the six streets.

After the incident, Wu Houwei's patrol arrived, and then people from Yongzhou Yamen also came.

In the end, Hou Junji was imprisoned in Menxia Province, Su Lie was imprisoned in the Sanpinyuan of Dali Temple Prison, and the two beaters were taken to Chongrenfang, where Zuowu Houwei was, and went to Zuowuhou Prison.

Beating with a cane is one of the five punishments, and can be divided into three categories: large cane, magic staff, and small staff. Generally, the person takes off his clothes to receive the cane, takes off his middle coat and spanks his buttocks, and sometimes his back and legs.

But no matter what, the cane will not hit the back of the head.

Su Lie understood, Sun Fujia also understood, and Wu Huaiyu naturally understood even more.

"Ji Qing, your Dali Temple specializes in reviewing criminal names all over the world. How will this case be tried?"

Sun Fujia could only sigh,

The story of what happened is still very clear, but after all, it involved a prime minister, a right guard general, a school captain died, and the general beat the prime minister, so the matter became complicated.

If it is just a violation of the Prime Minister's guard of honor, it is indeed sinful.

The guard of honor of the prime minister is a majestic gift given by the emperor. To clash with the guard of honor means to look down upon the court. The offender can be beaten with a cane, or handed over to the official for punishment.

There is no formal law for this kind of matter, but when the Tang law was formulated, it was already taken into account that miscellaneous crimes and misdemeanors were too numerous to cover, so it was difficult to cover them all, so there were already regulations. If there are comparable circumstances, the person may be punished according to the crime of doing something he should not have done.

If the circumstances are light, the person can be flogged forty times; if the reason is serious, the person can be flogged eighty times.

According to this, Hou Junji can indeed flog those who collide with his guard of honor, but the problem is that this matter is obviously not a simple matter of a school captain colliding with the prime minister's guard of honor.

Moreover, the captain was beaten to death several times with a cane, also because he was hit on the back of the head where he shouldn't have been.

"Senior brother, don't worry. There will be a trial in the palace tomorrow. I will definitely seek justice for senior brother and Su Wang."

······
early in the morning,
Wu Huaiyu rushed to the palace,

The emperor held a court meeting in Wude Hall,

specialize in hearing this case.

All nine prime ministers came, except for the person involved, Hou Junji, who had not yet been informed. Even Qin Qiong, who was originally going to the countryside of Sanyuan to recuperate, came early after receiving the order today.

The main officials from the Yushitai, the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, and the Three Law Departments also came.

Wu Huaiyu saw Ma Zhou, and Uncle Lang nodded from a distance.

Li Jing kept a dark face.

"Did you come to see Dingfang last night?"

"It's okay for senior brother to be in the third-grade courtyard. I have understood what happened clearly. I will never let Hou Junji go today. That bastard came here just for me. Su Wang was angered."

The emperor arrives.

The emperor's face was also gloomy today. The night before, he had held a grand palace banquet to celebrate the victory of the Northern Expedition with the people. As a result, yesterday it happened that the hero of the Northern Expedition, the general, beat the prime minister in the street.

The emperor has three secret intelligence agencies: the Imperial City Division, the Liumen Division, and the Baiqi Division. Regarding this matter, Liu Dewei, Zhang Anan, and Xu Luoren have all quickly investigated and reported it to the emperor.

Li Shimin knew the entire incident very well.

The atmosphere in the hall was tense.

"Take Marquis Junji and Su Lie."

The two parties involved were brought up, still wearing purple robes. Su Lie stared at Hou Junji since he came in.
Hou Junji was a little sluggish today, and even had some regret in his eyes.

I acted on impulse yesterday, but who knew it would become a big deal.

Li Shimin's face was full of anger, "Hou Junji, as the prime minister, how dare you kill the imperial captain who made contributions during the Northern Expedition?"

Hou Junji lowered his head and said, "As prime minister, I was about to take up my post at the Ministry of War yesterday. Even if someone dares to rush into it like this, this is despising His Majesty's order and disrespecting the majesty of the court. It is not only disrespectful to me, but also punishes rude people with my rod." , I didn’t know that he was a captain of the imperial army. He was punished with a few sticks and the military academy died. It was also an accident..."

(End of this chapter)