Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 132
Censorship Desk.

In front of the steps of the government office, a petty official looked around for a while, then quickly walked towards Pei Mian.

"Pei Yushi, where have you been? The son-in-law has been waiting for you for a long time."

"Which consort?"

"Princess Xianyi's son-in-law."

A trace of doubt flashed in Pei Mian's eyes, and he went to meet the guest in the public room.

Before stepping on the steps, he carefully arranged his robe, smelled the scent of sandalwood on his sleeves, wiped off the slight sweat from his forehead, and raised his feet to look at the mud on the soles of his shoes...to make sure that no one would suspect him Just now I went to see the people from the East Palace.

"Your son-in-law is here, so you must have heard about Lu Xuan?" As soon as we met, Pei Mian immediately apologized, "This matter was improperly arranged by the lower official, and Xue Bai could not be removed. Please give the lower official some more time. .”

Yang Hui smiled and said, "I didn't come here today for this matter. I heard that the Criminal Department took Zheng Qian?"

Pei Mian lowered his head to make tea, his eyes rolled instantly.

"So the son-in-law also heard about it? Zheng Qian did write an article privately, slandering Concubine Wu Hui with bad words, and the Ministry of Criminal Justice took him down in time. The lower officials just got the news and are going to monitor the matter."

"Who reported it?"

"I don't know about it for now." Pei Mian said, "Someone secretly put Zheng Qian's autograph on Xiao Shangshu's desk."

"Isn't it arranged by the right minister?"

"This... I don't know."

Yang Hui was walking around in the public room, looking around, looking out, but there was no one else.He signaled the servants to guard the yard and closed the door himself.

"This is the son-in-law?"

"There is no one else here, so let Pei Yushi tell you the truth, who arranged this matter?"

Pei Mian said: "I don't know if the officials are true."

"what."

Yang Hui grinned, his eyes turned dark for a moment, he raised his hand, and slapped Pei Mian directly.

"Snapped!"

The slap was so heavy that Pei Mian couldn't react in time, and the scorpion on his head fell to the ground.

Half of his face was immediately red and swollen. He covered his face and stared at Yang Hui in shock.

"This slap will let you know who is the master."

"What's the meaning of this, son-in-law?"

Before Pei Mian could finish his sentence, the document bearing the official seal of the Eastern Palace was unfolded in front of him, his pupils flickered, and he immediately understood that it was Xue Bai who encouraged Yang Hui.

He knew he had to fight fast and get rid of Xue Bai first.

"My son-in-law, please listen to my explanation..."

"Try coaxing me again!" Yang Hui scolded angrily, raised his hand and slapped him again, very skillfully, "How dare you puff your lips and wag your tongue!"

Pei Mian's cheeks were red and swollen, and he finally didn't dare to say more, he bowed down quickly, bowed his head deeply, still trying to calm himself down, thinking about countermeasures.

Seeing this, Yang Hui was quite satisfied, and walked around in front of Pei Mian with his hands behind his back.

"I don't care if you were from the Right Prime Minister or from the East Palace in the past, but you will be from me in the future. Whatever I ask you, what do you answer?"

"Yes."

Yang Hui wanted to ask a lot of questions, after pondering for a moment, she decided to use the case in front of her to test Pei Mian first.

"What happened to Zheng Qian's case?"

"Zheng Qian was entrusted by Xu Hao, Zhang Jiuling's nephew, to draw up a draft of the Shinto inscription for him, in which there is a sentence of 'the former crown prince Suo Jia, who was played by King Ying, took two thousand collars'."

Sure enough, Li Linfu deliberately concealed this matter, saying that it was Concubine Wu Hui.

Yang Hui asked again: "Who sued?"

"I really don't know..."

"Ji!" Yang Hui picked up Pei Mian, slapped Pei Mian again, and shouted, "Do you know that I can kill you?"

"Yes, yes. But I really don't know who complained."

"How dare you say it's not Donggong?"

Pei Mian froze for a moment.

Yang Hui grinned triumphantly, and spat, "Help me?"

"The next official went to see Fang Guan and asked about this matter. Fang Guan was ordered by King Guangping to instruct Zheng Qian not to allow Xue Bai to pass the annual examination, and to teach him a lesson. Zheng Qian did not agree, and there was indeed a rift between Fang Guan and Fang Guan. , but this matter was not done by Fang Guan.”

"what for?"

"The complainant is someone else."

"Who?"

"I don't know for now, but no matter who files a complaint, the Right Prime Minister's Office will definitely use this matter to deal with the East Palace. Wang Yu has ordered me to interrogate Zheng Qian in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, to induce a confession, and to bite the East Palace."

Yang Hui asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Do I have any plans?" Pei Mian still wanted to be clever, but halfway through the conversation, he smiled helplessly, and said truthfully, "The only thing that can lead to misfortune is to lead to Prince Qing, Xue Bai and others."

~~
Ministry of Punishment.

When Xiao Yinzhi saw Yang Hui, he knew why this son-in-law came.

"You even alarmed the son-in-law? This case is Zheng Qian's slander, so don't worry about it."

"Dare to slander Empress Zhenshun, how can I not care?" Yang Hui responded, "Have you found out who is behind the scenes?"

Xiao Yinzhi looked at Pei Mian who was following behind Yang Hui.

Pei Mian nodded, and said: "According to the intention of the right minister, Zheng Qian must be allowed to bite the East Palace."

"Yes."

Xiao Yinzhi relaxed, knowing that everyone in front of him was his own and there was no need to hide it, so he took out a list from his bosom.

"These are Zheng Qian's accomplices, and the crime of 'denouncing Chengyu' cannot be escaped."

Yang Hui took it over and saw that the list was very long, and they were all political enemies of the right minister's government.

Pei Mian was analyzing.

"Xu Hao, a doctor of the Criminal Ministry, Zhang Jiuling's nephew, Donggong Armao, is another important criminal in this case; Beihai prefect Li Yong, Donggong Armao, and Zheng Qian are both famous calligraphers and have written letters to each other; Guozijian Sheng Xue Bai, in this case It is also deeply involved; Du Fu, the secretary of the Puzhou Salt and Iron Commissioner, and Yuan Zai, the judge of the Quanli Salt and Iron Commissioner, are all Xue Bai's friends..."

Afterwards, many people were attracted by Xue Bai, and the first one who bore the brunt was Pei Kuan, Minister of the Household Department.

In short, there are Donggong and Yanguan, and they are all thorns in the eyes and flesh of the Right Prime Minister's House.

Yang Hui nodded again and again, thinking to himself, he is Li Linfu, and his mouth is to defend Concubine Wu Hui, and all he is doing is scheming.

He sneered slightly and gave Pei Mian a sideways look.

Pei Mian was helpless, after a moment of reluctance, he took out a document from his sleeve and handed it to Xiao Yinzhi.

"Wang Zhongcheng wants to transfer the prisoner to Dali Prison. Here are the documents. Please take a look at Xiao Shangshu."

"But this is a case of the Ministry of Criminal Justice..."

"The Criminal Department is in charge of punishment, and Dali Temple is in charge of the trial. There are many officials involved in this case, so Dali Temple should handle it." Pei Mian said calmly.

Although Xiao Yinzhi was a minister, he was afraid of Wang Ji's power, so he agreed.

~~
It's almost dusk.

Guozijian, Du Wulang finally completed the annual examination questions.

He walked out of the academy, looked up at the sunset in the sky, and listened to the sound of evening drums, feeling very worried.

Thinking that Dr. Zheng and Dr. Zheng were friends after all drinking together and criticizing current affairs, he decided to do something, so he hurriedly turned to Xue Bai.

Arriving at the school of Kaozeiwen, I saw that many people had already left the examination room separated by layers of bamboo curtains.

"Xue Bai."

Du Wulang just raised his head and shouted, but was suddenly pulled aside.

"Su Siye, have you seen Xue Bai?"

"Come here."

"Hey, we still have to go to the Prison of the Criminal Ministry to rescue Dr. Zheng..."

~~
Zheng Qian was slowly led out of the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice in shackles, and walked across Huangcheng Street.

Dali Temple was on the west side, and he could see the setting sun when he raised his head. It was dusk, and he looked at this scene with puzzled eyes.

Those articles have been written for several years, why have they been reported recently?
With this in mind, he stepped into the Dali Temple government office and was led through corridors, but unexpectedly did not enter the Dali Temple Prison.

……

Before the evening drum stopped, a carriage passed through the Shunyi Gate on the west side of the imperial city and entered a house in Buzhengfang.

This house is neither big nor small, but the pavilions are very exquisite.

As night fell, in the main courtyard, a beautiful woman moved lightly with lotus steps to meet Yang Hui, and said softly, "Mr.

The next moment, she stopped, because there was another tall man behind Yang Hui, who didn't show his face in the night.

"Go and rest, I still have something to do, don't let anyone come over and disturb me."

"Yes."

After calming down the beautiful outer room with a few words, Yang Hui gave Xue Bai behind him a warning look.

The two rushed to the side yard, only to see that Zheng Qian had not been brought over yet.

Going around the screen, Yang Hui let out a long breath and complained: "You are too brave."

"It's okay, the person was brought out in the name of Pei Mian, who would have thought of you and me?"

"Oh, I believed your nonsense."

Xue Bai smiled, still calm.

It would be risky to rob Zheng Qian in private, but he has no choice.

The power struggle during the Tianbao years has become increasingly fierce. If he does not act decisively and quickly this time, his power will be uprooted first.

Yang Hui walked around for two steps, pondered, and finally decided to hand a few documents to Xue Bai.

"This is a great evidence, I brought it."

"The son-in-law is very capable."

Xue Bai did not forget to praise him, took the paperwork and looked at it.

The first is a list, densely packed with the names that Li Linfu intends to be involved in the case... This is a crucial piece of evidence, but it is a pity that the handwriting is not Li Linfu's.

A statement from the Ministry of Punishment, Zheng Qian has been charged, admitting to the crime of privately writing the history of the country.

Then there is Zheng Qian's manuscript.

There is a draft of the Shinto stele, which describes the achievements of Zhang Jiuling's life, and mentions that Li Yan secretly told Li Ying to ask for armor, and Zhang Jiuling persuaded the saint to appease his anger.

There are only a few sentences about the case of the three common people, but it shows their attitude.

Recording this incident in the Shinto tablet shows that Zheng Qian believed it was one of Zhang Jiuling's achievements.In other words, he determined that the request for armor was a false accusation.

Finally, there is another manuscript, which records some court trivia in the 25th year of Kaiyuan.

The prince Li Ying played polo with the kings, and wrote the "Preface to Poems on the Stadium". It is a scene of fathers being kind, sons filial, brothers and brothers being respectful; the saints offered sacrifices to the Qing emperor, and the loyal king Li Heng and the Ying king Li Jian respectively served as the loyal and inferior offerings for the saints. Things.

Xue Bai watched it repeatedly, feeling slightly disappointed.

He originally thought that the Ministry of Criminal Justice arrested someone for the crime of "privately writing the history of the country" because Zheng Qian had written something remarkable.

And only these things, the Right Prime Minister's Mansion can immediately confirm that this is a serious crime, Donggong immediately asked Fang Guan to confess Pei Mian's misfortune to Shui Dongyin... Either he overreacted, or he knew that this matter would involve something great.

Yang Hui leaned forward and said in a low voice: "You can see it? These few pieces of paper can kill you people."

"Thanks to the son-in-law." Xue Bai said: "But judging from the handwriting, this is not the original manuscript."

"Xiao Yinzhi handed in the original manuscript, how could it be given to Pei Mian? It was copied by the Ministry of Punishment."

"Where's Pei Mian?"

"I let my two confidantes watch and blocked me in the public house of Dali Temple."

"Well, that's good, it will definitely make the son-in-law do a great job."

Yang Hui sneered slightly, seemingly in disbelief.

After a while, someone brought the blindfolded Zheng Qian into the house.

Xue Bai did not go out to meet Zheng Qian, lest his lies to Yang Hui be exposed.

He wrote down what he wanted to ask on a piece of paper, and asked Yang Hui's men to ask.

……

"You wrote the history of the country privately, so you didn't just write these manuscripts, did you?"

Zheng Qian's eyes were dark and he couldn't see anything, so he asked vigilantly, "Who are you?"

After a while.

"This case will implicate many people. We help you out of prison to avoid this. If you don't want to harm your relatives and friends, please tell us directly."

Zheng Qian thought for a while, and said: "It's really more than that. I also wrote about the interrogation process of the San Shuren case, but it was burned a few years ago."

"How did you write it?"

"Taizong abolished the crown prince to inherit Qian, and ordered all the ministers to participate in the trial, and everything was verified; Empress Wu and the crown prince had deep grievances, and the abolition of the crown prince was done according to the procedure. It is forbidden for Yousi to participate, and the wives and uncles of the three concubines are very involved."

"How do you know these things?"

"Some were told by Zhang Qujiang, and some were witnessed by me and the emperor."

"Did you burn the manuscript?"

"Yes."

"Why did it burn?"

"A few years ago, a friend reminded me that writing private history of the country might be a crime, so I burned it."

"Who is this friend?"

Zheng Qian said, "I'm sorry to tell you."

"Since you burned it, why did two manuscripts fall on the desk of the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment?"

"I don't know." Zheng Qian recalled, and said slowly: "At that time, there were more than 80 manuscripts, and I threw them all into the brazier. I thought they were all burned."

"Stolen?"

"Perhaps. It was many years ago."

After Zheng Qian said it, after waiting for a while, the other party stopped asking.

~~
"Why didn't you ask?"

"I know everything I need to know, did I lie to you?" Xue Bai said lightly, "Knowing more will be dangerous."

Yang Hui's heart trembled, and when he looked around, he saw that Xue Bai was burning the questions he had just written on the candle one by one.

He burned it very carefully, obviously he would not leave one or two to be stolen like Zheng Qian did.

"Who filed the complaint?" Yang Hui said, "Is it the East Palace?"

Xue Bai said: "It's not important, what's important is that the Right Prime Minister's Mansion and the East Palace will attack each other because of this incident. Are we going to be fish in the pond that will bring disaster, or fisherman who will benefit?"

"How to do it?"

"Pei Mian. He is from the Eastern Palace, and this time he is the one who kidnapped Zheng Qian for the Eastern Palace."

Yang Hui's eyes moved, and he guessed that he was going to frame the East Palace.

Xue Bai finished burning his handwriting, patted off the ashes on his clothes, and pointed to the evidence brought from the Ministry of Punishment.

"The Right Prime Minister once again used the Zheng Qian case to suppress political opponents. The criminals have not yet been tried. He has already listed a bunch of sinners, including the salt official who just collected salt tax for the saint; the East Palace is not honest. When I heard about this, I wanted to silence him."

"How to expose them and clear our relationship?"

"Because Zheng Qian has always been on good terms with the Eastern Palace, the Prime Minister told the princess that Zheng Qian had slandered Concubine Wu Hui, encouraged the princess to enter the palace to sue the Eastern Palace, and used Princess Xianyi every time. The son-in-law felt that something was wrong, and went to the Ministry of Justice to ask Xiao Shangshu. After obtaining these evidences, I didn't expect that Pei Mian would take the prisoner away in a blink of an eye."

"How to prove that Pei Mian is from the East Palace? If we use the evidence you gave, we will also reveal the truth."

"The evidence was used to frighten him." Xue Bai said, "The criminal was taken away in the name of Pei Mian tonight. How could brother suspect you? I would have guessed that Pei Mian was working for the East Palace. The search has already started, as long as you search Pei Mian's house, there will always be clues."

"feasible?"

"feasible."

"A saint is not easy to deceive."

"Don't worry, what we said is almost true." Xue Bai said with a calm smile, "And I have some relationship in the palace..."

Yang Hui has learned.

Xue Bai does this every time, turning Li Linfu and Li Heng into villains, and pretending to be innocent in front of saints.This time, the opportunity was given to them as husband and wife.

Princess Xianyi is too simple, so she is often taken advantage of by others.

Xue Bai seemed to be calm and calm, but the incident happened suddenly. He was still in the New Year's Examination. At this time, he was only using a rough plan to lull Yang Hui, but he hadn't thought about the details yet.

For example, how to hide what he did in this matter?Lest anyone point out that he was involved.

There are more holes to fill.

Yang Hui thought for a while, then pondered: "But Pei Mian knows all of this."

Xue Bai was surprised and said, "Your son-in-law still wants me to teach you?"

"Ha." Yang Hui grinned, cut his neck with a knife, and said meaningfully: "East Palace still dares to kill and silence, it is really cruel."

(End of this chapter)