Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 75: Take this rebellious son to the Imperial Temple and beat him to death

In the side hall, the candlelight was dim.

The emperor sat on the couch with a gloomy expression.

Hou Junji bowed with some difficulty and said, "Your Majesty, Zhou Cang's death was caused by a guard in the Prince of Wei's palace."

Li Shimin's breathing suddenly became heavy. He couldn't help but clench his fists slightly and said through gritted teeth, "Go on."

"Yes!" Hou Junji's expression was heavy, but he still spoke seriously. "According to my investigation, Zhou Cang was initially bribed by Fang Yiai, a military officer of the King of Wei. At that time, their target wasn't the King of Jin, but the Crown Prince... However, because it was the King of Jin, not the Crown Prince, who ultimately left the city to greet the imperial army, Fang Yiai immediately stopped Zhou Cang."

Li Shimin let out a sigh, nodded slightly, and his expression suddenly relaxed a lot.

Hou Junji lowered his head slightly, and the emperor's breathing sound clearly reached his ears. Deep in his eyes, a hint of sneer flashed in Hou Junji's eyes.

"Go on!" the emperor's voice sounded again.

"Yes!" Hou Junji bowed his head and said carefully, "Your Majesty, it was because Zhou Cang should not have taken action, but inexplicably did so. Fang Yiai couldn't figure out the reason, so he confronted Zhou Cang. In the end, a conflict probably took place in Zhuoying County, and that's why Zhou Cang was killed."

"You don't need to cover up for that rebellious son. I know he sent people to silence us." Li Shimin snorted coldly. He saw the situation clearly. He said coldly: "As for Zhou Cang having been bribed by the Tibetans and committed treason, that is another matter."

"Yes!" Hou Junji bowed calmly, and the emperor's subtle attitude was revealed in his words.

Zhou Cang deserved to die.

When Hou Junji first discovered that the Tibetans were involved in this matter, he knew that it would be difficult for this matter to harm the King of Wei.

"However, even if we execute the traitor, it is still against the law." The emperor sighed, raised his gaze slightly, and asked, "Where is the guard of the Prince of Wei's palace now?"

"He was just captured and brought back to Chang'an by Su Dingfang, the General of the Left Golden Guard." Hou Junji lowered his head.

"There are also the Supervisory Censor Li Yifu and the Deputy Minister of the Supreme Court, Zhang Wenguan." Li Shimin nodded calmly and said, "They have done a good job. They are all outstanding talents of the Tang Dynasty and will be used in important positions in the future."

"Yes!" Hou Junji bowed.

"What else happened tonight? Tell me." Li Shimin leaned back slightly and looked at Hou Junji with cold eyes.

"Your Majesty, the imperial physician Xie Jiqing was burned to death in the East Market." Hou Junji had no choice but to continue bowing.

The emperor's breathing became completely heavy at this moment.

Hou Junji hurriedly continued to bow and said, "Your Majesty, I have captured the murderer, and he confessed that..."

Hou Junji paused, as he said the wrong thing in his haste.

"Just tell me what you have to say." The emperor's voice was slow, firm, and cold.

"Yes!" Hou Junji bowed solemnly, then spoke carefully, "The man confessed that he followed the orders of Fang Yiai, a military officer in the Prince of Wei's Palace, to exchange the twenty silver ingots in Xie Jiqing's hand. After obtaining the silver ingots, he used a pre-arranged trap to burn Xie Jiqing to death. He also burned the receipt for the exchange of the silver ingots..."

"Fang Yiai." The emperor's face turned completely gloomy.

"And according to my inquiries, the first incident was ordered by the King of Wei, but the second incident was ordered by Fang Yiai himself." Hou Junji added briefly.

In Zhou Cang’s previous case, although it was indeed a murder, the person killed in the end was a traitorous general.

But Xie Jiqing was the imperial physician after all, and he had also studied medicine with Sun Simiao.

Of course, I only studied there for a while and was not a formal student of Sun Simiao.

Hou Junji knew his limits very well. He gently removed Li Tai from the story that followed, and he did not mention a single word about Xie Jiqing being bribed by Li Tai to spy on the prince's condition.

He knew so many things about the emperor before, it was impossible for him not to know these things.

Hou Junji didn't mention it because he knew the emperor didn't want to mention it either.

In this case, the final punishment will definitely fall on Fang Yiai's butt, but how to punish him is still a question...

"Jun Ji!" Li Shimin looked up and asked in a puzzled voice, "Why do you always try to cover up for Qingque?"

Hou Junji looked up in surprise and looked at Li Shimin in astonishment.

He wanted to say something, but for some reason he couldn't get it out.

Li Shimin looked at him and shook his head gently: "Jun Ji, although Fang Yiai was the one who did it, the person who ordered it behind the scenes must be Qingque. I don't believe that he didn't know about these things. I also don't believe that Fang Yiai dared to kill people without his approval."

Hou Junji bowed with some difficulty and said, "Your Majesty!"

"Everyone is working for him. I know he's the one behind all this." Li Shimin shook his head slightly and said, "This whole thing is his fault... No, it's my fault. I didn't teach this rebellious son well enough."

Hearing the words "rebellious son", Li Shimin finally couldn't help but grit his teeth. At this moment, all the things that happened tonight appeared in Li Shimin's mind.

He immediately turned sideways and roared, "Go, call that rebellious son over to me, go quickly!"

"Yes!" Zhang Ananda turned around in a panic and hurried into the hall. The emperor sat on the couch, his chest heaving. Waves of anger rose in his heart, and his expression became increasingly stern.

Hou Junji, who was standing opposite, didn't dare to say anything because he didn't know what was going on.

Because in his impression, the emperor was particularly fond of King Wei, even to an excessive degree.

That's why he had removed Li Tai from every incident before and assigned the rest of the blame to the Tibetans, Fang Yiai, the other two guards, and even the deceased himself. But for some reason, the emperor suddenly changed his previous doting and became cruel.

……

A flurry of hurried footsteps sounded at the door of the side hall.

Li Shimin raised his head and looked at Li Tai, who walked into the side hall with a staggering figure and a strong smell of alcohol on his breath. It was obvious that he was drunk. His brows immediately frowned.

Arriving at the emperor's side, Li Tai bowed earnestly and said, "Greetings, father!"

With a "slap", the emperor slapped Li Tai hard in the face with his backhand.

Hou Junji on the side couldn't help but shiver.

Li Tai covered his face and looked at Li Shimin in disbelief: "Father."

"You make friends with bandits, harm your brothers, spy on secret plots, and kill people to silence them. Qingque, Qingque, when did you become like this?" Li Shimin looked at Li Tai, gritting his teeth, his face full of hatred.

"Father, father, I don't understand what you are saying." Li Tai couldn't help but take a half step back while speaking.

Li Shimin raised his head with a cold expression, staring at Li Tai, and said in a cold voice: "Take him away and show the two guards who were caught killing people for him. Then, put this rebellious son..."

"Father!" When Li Tai heard the word "rebellious son", he couldn't help but fall to his knees with a plop.

"Take him away, send him to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and give him forty lashes before the Ancestral Temple. Beat him to death!" Li Shimin roared angrily. Zhang Ananda, who was standing to the side, immediately bowed and said, "Yes!"

Then, Zhang Ananda waved his hand, and two guards immediately stepped forward, grabbed Li Tai's arms, and dragged him out. Li Tai still didn't react: "Father, father, father..."

……

After a long while, Hou Junji carefully bowed and said, "Your Majesty, have you passed the King of Wei's?"

The emperor immediately looked over with a cold gaze, and Hou Junji lowered his head in fear.

Li Shimin took a deep breath, and his expression finally softened. He looked at Hou Junji, shook his head slightly, and said, "Junji, do you think I'm punishing him? No, I'm atonement for the two guards who were ordered by him to kill people, and also for Fang Yiai. According to the law, killing someone is punishable by beheading."

The two guards are fine, but the key is Fang Yiai.

Not only was he the King of Wei selected by Li Shimin himself to join the army, he was also Fang Xuanling's second son and even Princess Gaoyang's fiancé.

Now Fang Yiai is deeply involved in both cases, and even kills people directly according to Li Tai's orders.

If you kill someone and get caught, you will naturally be punished.

Hou Junji now finally understood that he was wrong. From the very beginning, the emperor wanted to protect Fang Yiai instead of Li Tai.

Is that right?

Hou Junji bowed and said carefully, "Your Majesty, in my opinion, Fang Yiai's crime does not deserve beheading."

"Oh!" Li Shimin raised his head slightly, glanced at Hou Junji, nodded and said, "Tell me in detail."

"Your Majesty," Hou Junji gathered his thoughts briefly before continuing, "If you look closely at what happened today, you'll find it's actually four cases."

"Go on."

"Yes!" Hou Junji bowed, then said, "Today's incident involves the murder of the King of Jin. It has now been confirmed that the true culprit is the Tibetans."

"I guess so." Li Shimin smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Of course, the second one is the attempt to harm the prince. Although the Prince of Wei's Mansion took action, it suddenly withdrew at the last moment, so it was a minor offense but not a major crime." Hou Junji calmly explained the "facts" because indeed, that was the situation.

"And the third is Zhou Cang's death. Although the guard and Fang Yiai were guilty, it was actually Zhou Cang himself who committed treason first. Although Fang Yiai was suspected of silencing him, to be honest, I think, from the bottom of my heart, he did make some contribution." Hou Junji smiled lightly.

Li Shimin raised his head slightly, glanced at Hou Junji, and nodded expressionlessly.

"And the fourth is the death of Xie Jiqing." Hou Junji bowed, then said disdainfully, "Xie Jiqing was a villain. Although he was a medical officer, he leaked palace secrets without authorization. He deserves death. Therefore, I believe that the responsibility should be shared by the King of Wei, Fang Yiai, and the guard."

The emperor leaned over and looked up, giving Hou Junji a deep look before nodding and saying, "Order your order to give his rebellious son twenty more lashes."

"Yes!" Zhang Ananda bowed solemnly.

(End of this chapter)