Quickly wear it and insist on being an old man forever

Now, the ministers could no longer refuse.

At the same time, everyone could hear that the current emperor had no intention of calling for the crown prince to be killed, so most of the crown prince's party members were relieved. Among them, Duke Lu Song of Chen hesitated for a while, and seeing that no one stood up to speak for Crown Prince Li Xian, he, as the brother-in-law, could only bite the bullet and say:
"Your Majesty, since the Crown Prince was being held hostage, I wonder if he is safe and sound. Why didn't he attend court today?"

His wife is the younger sister of Crown Princess Wei Xianger.

At the same time, he also serves as the Prince's Secretary, and is undoubtedly a member of the Prince's party. Naturally, he is worried about the Prince at this time. The Prince has been missing since the mutiny yesterday, or he has not come out since he entered the palace. Many people even doubt whether the Prince is still alive?

If Bai Sheng hadn't described it as being coerced.

He didn't dare to stand up and ask this question.

"Although he was coerced, he did not resist or warn me. When he saw me, he said nothing. Therefore, he is also guilty. He is now imprisoned in the side hall of my Xianju Palace.

Let’s first determine the crimes of the few ministers who forced the emperor to abdicate.

Let’s discuss him again!”

Bai Sheng was too lazy to say ambiguous words and let them guess what he meant. When it came to suppressing the officials and aristocratic families, Bai Sheng was much more confident than his original self.

So she expressed her attitude directly.

Although doing so would inevitably cause many officials who were used to flattery to say something that was not in their heart, it did not affect Bai Sheng's ability to hear their inclinations from their words. In addition, if she had already shown such a clear attitude and they were still singing a different tune from her, then their inclinations and attitudes would undoubtedly be even clearer.

Hearing this, Lu Song didn't dare to ask any more questions.

At the same time, he had made up his mind that he must find ways to aggravate the crimes of Zhang Jianzhi and others and say bad things about them. The worse they were, the more it would highlight the helplessness and compulsion of Crown Prince Li Xian.

Not only he had this idea, but also the other princes present and those who had no marriage relationship with Zhang Jianzhi and others.

Most of the time this is the idea!

Because in their view, Zhang Jianzhi and others had clearly forced the emperor to rebel and there was no hope of salvation, they would surely die. If they succeeded, it would be a great achievement, as success would be the result of following the emperor.

But if you fail, it would be rebellion and there would be no excuse.

It is worth it to exchange their sacrifice for the safety of the prince, or even better, to keep his position as prince.

"Your Majesty, I believe that Zhang Jianzhi and others should be sentenced to death. The Crown Prince's position is very stable, and there is no need to rush to force the emperor to rebel. This move was purely made by Zhang Jianzhi and others to gain credit for following the emperor, and the Crown Prince was also forced to follow them.

Maybe he was even taken hostage by them.

I hope Your Majesty will have mercy on the prince’s suffering.”

"Your Majesty, I second the motion. Zhang Jianzhi disregarded Your Majesty's grace and committed such a rebellious act. He should be sentenced to death..."

"Your Majesty, we should exterminate their three tribes."

“No, since Emperor Gaozu founded the country, no one has ever been exterminated with his entire family. Even if someone plotted treason, generally only the ringleader and participants would be executed, and the rest would be exiled.

It is better to accumulate virtue and avoid killing people!"

"It is precisely because the punishment for rebellion and treason is too light that they are so bold. Rebellion is an unforgivable crime, so what if they exterminate their entire clan?"

"Your Majesty, I have interrogated some of the imperial guards. They all said that after entering the palace, Zhang Jianzhi and others threatened them that if they dared to retreat and rebel, their entire clan would be exterminated. They have not yet succeeded, but they dared to threaten the imperial guards like this. You can imagine how bold they are. We must not let them off easily!"

Compared to some officials who were trying to exonerate the prince or did not want Bai Sheng to punish everyone involved, the Minister of Justice was more willing to exonerate the 500 imperial guards.

After all, most of the imperial guards involved in this matter were children of officials, and had close ties with aristocratic families and nobles. Some of them were not even aware of the forcing of the emperor to abdicate, and they were just following orders from their superiors. By the time they realized that they were forcing the emperor to abdicate, it was too late to regret and they could only follow this path to the end.

At present, the family members of the imperial guards have not been arrested.

Only they themselves were arrested.

So naturally, many people tried to send gifts, hoping that the people in the court could speak for the imperial guards and save their lives. They did not dare to ask for acquittal, but as long as they were sentenced to exile, everyone would be grateful and very satisfied. Because if they were all just exiled, it should not implicate their families and in-laws.

The Minister of Justice had several not-too-distant relatives among the ranks of the 500 imperial guards. At the same time, he was completely unaware of the matter, so naturally he resented Zhang Jianzhi and others, and wished that they would die more miserably.

Originally, everyone was doing well and living a stable life. As long as the current emperor could survive, everything would go smoothly.

Zhang Jianzhi and his men insisted on creating trouble. It would have been fine if they had succeeded, but now they have failed and the situation is a complete mess. No one knows how it will end. Even the current emperor's idea of ​​whether he still wants to succeed to the Li Tang Dynasty will change because of this.

Now it has become an unknown again.

As the Minister of Justice spoke, many people who shared the same idea as him also stood up and spoke well of the 500 imperial guards, believing that they had no ill intentions and were just following the orders of the imperial guards leader Li Duozuo.

Li Duozuo guarded the North Gate for more than twenty years.

Who could have imagined that he would rebel?

But no matter who they favor or who they want to excuse, it is certain that Zhang Jianzhi and others will be abandoned.

No one feels that they shouldn't die.

Bai Sheng felt that these five guys were really stupid. In real history, although the five of them succeeded in forcing the emperor to abdicate, and were even the greatest contributors, and were all granted the title of princes, the Shenlong Coup was also called the Five Kings Coup, but they all had a bad ending.

The abdication was carried out in the first year of the Shenlong reign.

The man died in the second year of Shenlong.

On the surface, they all died due to the joint frame-up of Wu Sansi and Empress Wei, but in fact, Li Xian was not reduced to a puppet by Wu Sansi and Empress Wei. Without Li Xian's consent, Wu Sansi and Empress Wei would not have been able to take action against them, the greatest contributor to the Shenlong coup.

It can be seen that Li Xian was not actually very grateful to them.

Even hate them and fear them.

Firstly, no matter what, forcing the emperor to abdicate was a huge risk for him. Originally, his position as the crown prince was secure, and he only had to wait for his mother to die of illness.

It was completely natural for him to ascend the throne and become emperor.

There is no need to bear the reputation of forcing the emperor to abdicate.

Secondly, he had no idea about such a big thing as forcing the emperor to abdicate beforehand. It was all planned by his subordinates. When the time came and they were ready to take action, they came over and said they wanted to forcibly abdicate and rebel.

They also said that the generals and prime ministers risked their lives for the country, so how could Your Majesty let them face the torture of being boiled in a cauldron? This was pure moral kidnapping.

By the way, in the end, Li Xian was carried on a horse and accompanied to Xuanwu Gate, cutting the bolt and entering the palace. So what Bai Sheng said was actually correct. Li Xian was indeed forced to come. In this case, who wouldn't feel that he was a puppet, who wouldn't feel that his subordinates were not loyal to him at all.

When Emperor Taizong launched the Xuanwu Gate Incident, although he was persuaded by his advisers and generals, they had discussed and persuaded Chen Qing together to find out the pros and cons. It was different from him who was directly put on the throne and forced to abdicate together.

As a result, after successfully ascending the throne, he of course had to find ways to kill Zhang Jianzhi and others. This would not only eliminate the threat, but also avenge his mother.

I have to say, this child is quite filial!

"Then those who participated and took the lead will be sentenced to death, and the rest of their family members will be exiled to Lingnan. The five hundred imperial guards who killed the two dukes will also be sentenced to death, and the rest will be exiled to the frontier to make up for their crimes. Their family members will not be implicated."

I listened to the argument for about half an hour.

Bai Sheng quickly announced his original intention.

She had decided on the relevant punishments long ago and let everyone discuss them in the court, mainly to see the general inclinations of the civil and military officials in the court. Now that everyone has roughly figured it out, there is naturally no need to waste any more time.

The ministers had no objection to this, because it was also in their interests. Naturally, they all expressed that Your Majesty was wise and benevolent, comparable to Yao and Shun, etc.

And then the ministers continued to discuss.

How to punish the prince?

This question will surely reveal more tendencies.

"Your Majesty, I think the Crown Prince is also a victim this time. He was coerced and forced, and maybe even frightened, so he failed to raise the alarm in time. He may have lost his voice due to fear because he didn't say a word. I hope Your Majesty can ask the imperial physician to diagnose the Crown Prince and not delay his condition!"

The few princelings who had remained silent before were obviously not speechless. Instead, they focused all their energy and thoughts on how to defend the prince. As soon as they opened their mouths, they portrayed the prince as a pure white lotus.

He is definitely a victim, not a rebellious person!
I think there must be some sensible people among the imperial physicians, or they have connections. It would not be difficult to just say that the prince was frightened and temporarily lost his voice. Of course, illnesses must be seen by the imperial physician. If the imperial physician says there is an illness, then there is an illness.

Besides, there are many difficult and strange diseases in this world, and losing the voice due to tension is the most reasonable thing to do.

Hearing this rebuttal, the eyes of the other prince's party members lit up. This was a good excuse, a great one. The prince was not guilty at all and was even a victim. Then the core members of the other prince's party members turned to hope that Bai Sheng would ask the imperial physician to diagnose and regulate the prince's body.

We must not allow the prince to develop any underlying illness.

Many officials who were willing to support Prince Xiang didn't know what to say for a while. If they directly said that they hoped to depose the crown prince and make Prince Xiang the crown prince, wouldn't it be too obvious? Their hesitation disappeared completely when Prince Xiang himself stood up and supported the prince's party's remarks, and also said that the crown prince should be innocent.

For a time, more than 80% of the civil and military officials in the court firmly believed that the prince was innocent and hoped that Your Majesty would be magnanimous.

And he hoped that the imperial physician could come to the palace to treat the prince.

Understand the prince's physical condition.

"Then order the Crown Prince to confine himself to the palace for half a year and reflect on his mistakes. The Eastern Palace will be closed for a long time and he is not allowed to enter or leave at will. The doctors in the Imperial Hospital can enter and leave freely to diagnose the Crown Prince's health."

Even for the sake of his original body's last wish, Bai Sheng could not do anything to Li Xian, but if there was really no punishment, it would undoubtedly be a bit too frivolous, so Bai Sheng made a slight compromise and let him reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors.

The initial idea of ​​the court ministers was just to try to keep the crown prince's position. Now this result is actually very good for them. They are afraid that if they push too far, they might anger the current emperor, so naturally they want to stop while they are ahead and express their gratitude to His Majesty for being wise.

At this point, the coup was basically over.

Many people felt relieved.

Next, Bai Sheng promoted some people to replace those who had been arrested, and formally gave official positions to his bodyguard robots. They were in charge of the four gates in the southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest, as well as positions such as the leader of the imperial guards. Naturally, everything could be guaranteed to be worry-free.

Just kidding, it’s hard to guess what people are thinking.

He could betray her at any time.

But robots obviously don't have to worry about betrayal.

In fact, many people opposed the process, and some even thought that there was no need to rush the matter, and that it could be pushed to the court later and everyone could discuss it together. After all, the positions left vacant after Zhang Jianzhi and others were arrested were not easy to get.

They are all big pies at the prime minister's level.

Naturally, some people covet it and some people are tempted.

However, Bai Sheng was very decisive this time. He even dismissed three officials on the spot and exiled four officials. Only then did the civil and military officials in the court realize that the current emperor was still the same emperor as before. He was relatively gentle before, but he did not become easy to bully. It was most likely that he did it for the sake of face for Crown Prince Li Xian.

I really don't want to do anything to the prince.

Hence the previous compromises.

However, operations such as promoting officials and replacing the leader of the imperial guards have nothing to do with the prince, so naturally he will not be polite anymore.

Knowing what was going on, they quickly compromised and gave in.

They all expressed no objection.

Then Bai Sheng's series of appointments were carried out smoothly, and the court was adjourned immediately. The Minister of Justice was specially called back to submit the interrogation records of all the prisoners and the 500 imperial guards as soon as possible.

Bai Sheng wants to see it.

The next step was to send someone to safely escort the frightened Li Xian back to the Eastern Palace, and then seal off the Eastern Palace.

At the same time, the imperial physician was allowed to enter and treat him.

After all these things were done, Bai Sheng returned to the Xianju Palace and carefully analyzed the attitudes of the civil and military officials today, as well as the implicit information revealed in their words. No matter how many people disguised themselves, their tendencies could still be analyzed through some of their external performances, even their tone and expression when speaking.

Especially in front of a being like Bai Sheng whose mental power is extremely terrifying, many aspects are difficult to disguise.

Bai Sheng could even vaguely sense how much of what they said was sincere and how much was false, and how much of each was sincere and false. If she didn't have this special ability, how could she dare to analyze the tendencies of all the civil and military officials in the court based on two questions and everyone's discussion?

Another hour later, the confessions of Zhang Jianzhi and other convicted officials as well as the five hundred imperial guards were all delivered.

Bai Sheng only spent half an hour to finish reading the content, and then he had to admit one thing, that is, most people, at least the majority of officials and imperial guards, still favor Li Tang, not Wu Zhou. (End of this chapter)