Tibet

Chapter 543: Being liquidated instead
King Qing Li Cong knelt in front of the palace for a day, but the emperor Li Longji never paid attention to him. Finally, the eunuch persuaded him and sent him back to his palace.

Mentally exhausted and worried, Li Cong knew that his father must have given up on him.

Thinking that there was no hope of seizing the heir, and that he would be punished by the prince in the future, Li Cong fell ill after returning to the house under heavy pressure.

Zheng Ang, the censor Zhongcheng, also heard the news. He felt the crisis. Usually it is a joint trial of the three divisions. This time, he specially bypassed the censor stage, probably for himself.

Zheng Ang rushed to Yang Guozhong's house overnight and begged Yang Guozhong to intercede on his behalf.

"Xiangye, these are all ordered by King Qing. Beizhi will do everything according to his instructions. Moreover, King Qing swore to Beizhi that it is the emperor's will. Since he has guaranteed this, then Beizhi will carry out his instructions in accordance with the emperor's intention. "

Yang Guozhong waved his hand impatiently and interrupted him, "Since it is the emperor's intention, what are you worried about?"

Zheng Ang said tremblingly: "But if the emperor wants to retry the prophecy case, he should let the prince's faction retry it. That case is untenable at all, and it was exposed as soon as the trial started."

Yang Guozhong has also been very dissatisfied with Zheng Ang in the past year. When Zheng Ang was the supervisory censor and the censor, he was very humble and had to ask himself for instructions on everything. Since he became the censor Zhongcheng last year, he has become arrogant and put on airs. Asking yourself for guidance becomes working with yourself.

This time Zheng Ang did not approve of his cooperation with Qing Wang Li Cong at all. Zhang Jun invited him, but he ran away and dragged his son into the water. Now that the situation was not good, he came to beg himself, why didn't he Go and seek help from King Qing and Zhang Jun?

Yang Guozhong took a sip of tea and said calmly: "Zheng Zhongcheng, don't worry, this matter has implicated many people, the emperor is just a formality, he will definitely lift it up high and put it down gently."

Zheng Ang couldn't get a clear answer, so he had no choice but to leave in frustration.

Yang Guozhong looked at his back and snorted heavily.He began to consider a new candidate for the Yushi Zhongcheng. He had many confidants in the Yushitai. He wanted to replace Zheng Ang, who was talking about cooperation with him, with an obedient subordinate.

Yang Guozhong doesn't care much about Li Ye now. He and Li Ye have little interaction. He is now focusing on Anlushan. It is said that Anlushan replaced all the Han generals with Hu generals. This is obviously a rebellion and he must explain it to the emperor. This point, this is not what I always say, but the other party's actual actions.

But Yang Guozhong also knew that the emperor hated seeing him, so he had to find a suitable time.

Fang Guan took over Li Ye's prophecy case and immediately asked Peng Haiyan, the director of Dali Temple, to assist him.

In the public room, Peng Haiyan said to Fang Guan: "Master Fang, I had a talk with County Magistrate Feng this morning. He said that this case was so ridiculous that he didn't want to accept it. At that time, he wanted to beat up the woman who made the false accusation. But Zheng Ang, the censor Zhongcheng, appeared in time and forced him to accept the case. He had no choice but to take the people from the censor's station to the scene to check. After arriving at the scene, the people from the censor's station took over the whole case. "

"Does Magistrate Feng say there is anything suspicious or absurd?" Fang Guan asked.

Peng Haiyan nodded, "He said, first of all, the woman who complained was illiterate at all. She said that she heard it from another cook, and the other cook said that she went to the back house to use the toilet to see the prince. Bingzhu read the prophecy all night long, but it turned out that the cook couldn't read either."

The room burst into laughter. Fang Guan held back his laughter and said, "It's really ridiculous. A cook has been staring at the master all night. What was she thinking?"

Everyone laughed again, and Peng Haiyan added: "There is something even more shameless and ridiculous. The county government asked two women when they saw the master reading the prophecy. They insisted that it was October last year, but Li Ye went there in late August. Dunhuang is here, where can I read prophecies in October?
What's more, these two women were only transferred to Yuanzhai in March this year, so it was nonsense. Later, they also realized this problem and changed their story, saying that it happened three months ago, but three months ago Li Ye Still in Anxi!
What's more important is that after Li Ye left the garden house in mid-August last year, he never went back. Li Ye didn't know what these two women looked like, so he made false accusations. "

Fang Guan nodded, "This case is easy to try, and it can basically be regarded as a false accusation." Peng Haiyan pondered for a while and said: "Actually, there are also troubles. The real manipulator of this case is Qing Wang Li Cong, as well as Yushitai and Dali Temple, Prime Minister Zhang Jun was also involved in the case. The main planners and participants were King Qing Li Cong and Yu Shi Zhongcheng Zheng Ang. Cheng Xiao, the young minister of Dali Temple, prepared a prison and various interrogation tools. Because Li Ye had not been caught, he still Didn’t play.”

Fang Guan glanced at everyone and said slowly: "Everyone, I can tell you the truth. This prophecy case is actually a political case. It was an attempt by King Qing, Zhang Jun, Zheng Ang and others to persecute Li Ye. The emperor had been watching the charges uncovered in the net, but Li Ye was unwilling to be persecuted. After leaving Guanzhong with his subordinates, wives and daughters, the emperor was worried that Li Ye would be forced to rebel, so he began to intervene in the case. Gao Weng told me a few things. There are two principles that everyone should remember. First, the emperor is trying to bring order out of chaos; second, he does not agree with the expansion of the number of people involved; third, the main responsibility lies with Zheng Ang, the censor Zhongcheng."

Everyone immediately understood that Zheng Ang was going to be in bad luck this time.

Fang Guan added: "Let's start with the case itself. The two women need to be re-interrogated, and everyone in the garden has to record their confessions, as well as those prophecies. We need to determine their origin, so the earliest discovery of the prophecies Several Yushitai officials will also be subject to strict interrogation. As for the Yushitai Zhongcheng Zheng Ang, we will first closely monitor him, and once the confession is made, he will be immediately arrested and placed under house arrest!"

There are many official buildings built on both sides of Danfeng Gate close to the imperial city, which are the windows to the outside world of each provincial government office. The Ministry of Punishment also has an official office here, which is mainly convenient for the Ministry of Punishment to hear cases.

Dali Temple dispatched fifty Tiqi to assist in the trial. All suspects and witnesses were brought to the official office of the Ministry of Punishment and questioned one by one during the interrogation.

The two women were frightened this time and did not dare to quibble anymore. They confessed everything honestly. A Yushitai official gave them one hundred guan each and asked them to falsely accuse Li Ye. They also hid the prophecy. study.

This Yushitai official was quickly identified by two women as Chen Zhi, the Secretary of the Yushitai.

In the face of conclusive witness and material evidence, Chen Zhi was unable to quibble, so he had to admit that he was instructed by Zheng Ang, the imperial censor, to give each of the two women a hundred guan of money, and at the same time, he purchased thirteen volumes of prophecies at a bookstore. Let the two women hide in the study in advance.

Peng Haiyan immediately found the bookstore shopkeeper, who admitted that Chen Zhi had purchased thirteen volumes of prophecies from him.

At this point, all the witnesses and physical evidence were closed. Fang Guan used the gold medal given by the emperor to suspend Zheng Ang, the censor Zhongcheng, and immediately placed him under house arrest in Dali Temple.

Gao Lishi found an opportunity to report to Emperor Li Longji, "Your Majesty, the prophecy case has been investigated clearly!"

Li Longji raised his eyebrows, "It took only three days to find out?"

"Your Majesty, this is a case that was made out of nothing. It is full of loopholes. Once investigated, it will be clear."

Li Longji nodded, "I know, you can just handle this matter."

"But how to convict Zheng Ang, the censor Zhongcheng, requires His Majesty to make it clear!"

"Is he the main culprit?"

"He is the out-and-out principal criminal. He controlled everything from planning to execution. He also had a personal grudge against Li Ye. Speaking of which, he was Li Linfu's son-in-law. After Li Linfu's death, he immediately divorced his wife and married another man, lashing out with all his strength. Li Linfu just got Yang Guozhong's important use and was promoted from the supervisory censor to the censor Zhongcheng. This person's character is too bad and he has no virtue and incompetence!"

Li Longji said slowly: "In this case, let him be dismissed from his post as a civilian and the whole family will be sent to Lingnan!"

(End of this chapter)